‘Benediction:’ Lowden, Irvine Embody Two Real-Life Artists [VIDEO]

Benediction, Terence Davies’ somber and affecting non-linear cinematic telling of the life of  20^th century English poet Siegfried Sassoon, explores anti-war themes as well as same sex desire. The film is set at a time in history where such attractions were forbidden but punishment was usually reserved for the lower classes. Davies, himself, has admitted to struggling with being gay, and Benediction gives him the perfect vehicle to channel his angsty and complex energies.

Young Sassoon is embodied by Jack Lowden (Dunkirk, Slow Horses) who anchors the film delivering nuanced and tender work as a poet who dares to think for himself–which often got him in trouble. Sassoon lived fairly-openly as a gay man and had a series of ill-fated love affairs with other “Bright Young Things” of the 1920s, including the singer/actor/divo, Ivor Novello, played with great wit and pernicious whimsy by Jeremy Irvine (The Railway Man, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). This is Davies’ version of Novello via how he thought Sassoon saw him. Stream Robert Altman’s Gosford Park for a far less wicked portrait of the man.

Uncomfortable with his own queerness as well as haunted by the horrors of war, Sassoon marries a woman and has a son –both of whom he mistreats– and turns to Catholicism hoping for some sort of salvation, which he never finds. The irascible old Sassoon is portrayed by the formidable Peter Capaldi.

Benediction is a meditation on the human journey, which is too often a devastatingly painful one, yet also peppered with joy and hope.

Lowden, just a few days ago, received the coveted Trophée Chopard, presented by Julia Roberts, at the Cannes Film Festival. The award is given to young actors who show the most promise. Irvine received the same trophy in 2013.

Awards Daily had the pleasure of Zoom chatting with the two actors on the eve of the film’s opening. 

Benediction, distributed by Roadside Attractions, opens in theaters on June 3, 2022.