Hugh Simon Movies
Willem Dafoe stars as groundbreaking early 20th century American poet T.S. Eliot in this biopic focusing on Eliot's disastrous marriage. Young Tom Eliot meets the flamboyant Vivienne Haigh-Wood (Miranda Richardson) while they are both students at Oxford University in England in 1914. Eliot is studying under the famous writer and philosopher Bertrand Russell (Nickolas Grace). Tom and Viv elope after a very brief courtship, without the consent of her parents and against the advice of Viv's brother Maurice (Tim Dutton). On the honeymoon, Tom learns that Viv suffers from a severe hormonal imbalance which causes frequent menstruation. She is under the care of a doctor who calls her problems emotional and prescribes medications which worsen her condition. Viv is moody, often despondent, and frequently drunk. While Tom works as a bank clerk and tries to establish himself as a writer, Viv serves as his secretary and sometimes his muse, but more and more often she embarrasses them in public with her behavior. Yet her influence prevents Tom, who wants to become thoroughly British and a member of the Church of England, from becoming too staid. Eventually, Tom reluctantly commits his wife to a mental asylum and their troubled marriage continues to plague his life and color his work. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Miranda Richardson, (more)
- 1989
A BBC production, Christabel was one of several British TV iniseries seen during the 1988-89 season of the PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theatre. Dennis Potter adapted the teleplay from Christabel Bielenberg's autobiography The Past is Myself. Elizabeth Hurley plays Christabel, a British woman married to a German lawyer. Part One of this four-part drama begins with the wedding in 1934; the couple settles in Berlin and raises a family. Four years later, the husband (Stephen Dillon), concerned over the day-to-day outrages committed by the Nazis, plans to move out of Germany, while Christabel, utterly disinterested in politics, wavers in her commitment to her husband's plans. In part two, Christabel, living in Europe at the outbreak of the war, worries about her parents in England, while her husband joins a pro-British organization and is eventually arrested for treason. Christabel was adapted for television by Dennis Potter, better known for his surrealistic British TV serials Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Hurley, Stephen Dillone, (more)
Based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh, Handful of Dust is set amongst Britain's aristocracy of the 1930s. At sumptuous Hetton Abbey, tradition-bound country squire James Wilby and his wife Kristin Scott Thomas open their doors to well-connected but impoverished Rupert Graves. Graves returns Wilby's hospitality by having an affair with Scott Thomas, while Wilby gamboles about his estate without a clue of what is going on. Wilby's cloistered world comes tumbling down when Scott Thomas coolly demands a divorce, shortly after the accidental death of their young son. Wilby discovers that his divorce settlement will cost him Hetton Abbey; he faces this circumstance by not facing it at all, preferring to escape to South America, stiff upper lip intact, in the company of a dotty explorer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
