Shadowlands [Blu-ray]

Director: Richard Attenborough, Beth Dewey Richard Attenborough

Overview

This lavishly mounted adaptation of the play by William Nicholson tells the true story of the doomed love affair between novelist and noted Christian scholar C.S. Lewis and a Jewish-American poet. Anthony Hopkins stars as C.S. "Jack" Lewis, an Oxford professor and successful author of the Chronicles of Narnia series of children's fantasy novels. A confirmed bachelor, Jack's existence is an inward life of the mind. Somewhat detached from the world, his only social outlet is evenings out at a local pub discussing philosophy and religion with his fellow lecturers. Jack has been corresponding with a bluntly intelligent American woman, Joy Gresham (Debra Winger), who arrives to visit him, with her young son Douglas (Joseph Mazzello) in tow. She tells Jack that she has actually fled from an abusive marriage and plans to divorce, and Jack astonishes friends and family by agreeing to a platonic marriage with Joy so that she can obtain British citizenship. As their friendship deepens and Joy discovers that she has a terminal illness, the relationship between Joy and Jack becomes a genuine romance, and their marriage turns into a real commitment. Shadowlands (1993) had previously been filmed as a well-regarded British television movie in 1985 starring Joss Ackland as Lewis.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/04/2022
UPC:	0683904635761
Original Release:	1993
Rating:	PG
Source:	Ushe
Language:	English
Time:	2:11:00
Sales rank:	7,106

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Anthony Hopkins	C.S. Lewis
Debra Winger	Joy Gresham
Edward Hardwicke	Warnie Lewis
Joseph Mazzello	Douglas Gresham
Michael Denison	Harrington
Peter Firth	Dr. Craig,Father John Fisher
Robert Flemyng	Claude Bird
Gerald Sim	Superintendent Registrar
Julian Fellowes	Desmond Arding
Roddy Maude-Roxby	Arnold Dopliss
Andrew Seear	Bob Chafer
Tim McMullan	Nick Farrell,Actor
Andrew Hawkins	Rupert Parrish
Peter Howell	College President
James Frain	Peter Whistler
Toby Whithouse	Frith
Daniel Goode	Lieven
Scott Handy	Standish
Chris Williams	Julian
Charles Simon	Barker
Giles Oldershaw	Marcus
Walter Sparrow	Fred Paxford
Simon Cowell-Parker	John Egan
Roger Ashton-Griffiths	Dr. Eddie Monk
Pat Keen	Mrs. Young
Carol Passmore	Woman in Tea Room
John Quentin	Station Acquaintance
Alan Talbot	College Porter
Heather Mansell	President's Wife
Leigh Burton-Gill	Mrs. Parrish,Parrish Child,Parrish Child,Parrish Child,Parrish Child
Sylvia Barter	Woman in Bookshop
James Watt	Boy in Bookshop
Pauline Melville	Committee Chairwoman
Sophie Stanton	Lecture Committee
Ysobel Gonzalez	Lecture Committee
Ninka Scott	Lecture Committee
Terry Rowley	Registrar
Norman Bird	Taxi Driver
Abigail Harrison	Staff Nurse
Karen Lewis	Hotel Receptionist,Tea Room Waiter
Matthew Delamere	Simon Chadwick
James Preston	Actor
Jesse Adams	Actor
Breeda Wool	Actor
John Wood	Christopher Riley
Lucy Boulting	Actor
George Fenton	Composer

Technical Credits

William Nicholson

Richard Attenborough	Director,Producer
Lucy Boulting	Casting
Terence Clegg	Executive Producer,Producer
Chris Corbould	Special Effects
Brian Eastman	Producer
William Nicholson	Screenwriter
Beth Dewey	Director
Diana Hawkins	Producer
Alan White	Special Effects
John Bateman	Sound Effects
Jonathan Bates	Sound Effects,Sound Editor
Michael Crouch	Sound Effects
Taffy Haines	Sound Effects
Kevin Holtz	Sound Effects
Alison Webb	Producer
Brian Warner	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

One of the best qualities of Richard Attenborough's adaptation of William Nicholson's play is the way it doesn't feel like a play at all. This is an excellent quality to possess, especially in a film that is in part about a middle-aged man discovering the joy of being alive. About halfway in, Winger's Joy takes Hopkins' Jack on vacation, a sequence shot in typically lush Attenborough fashion but made truly memorable by the inexperienced Jack's joy upon discovering that he can order cocktails sent up to his room. Extremely well-acted by both leads (note the way Winger slowly absorbs English inflections in her speech the more time her character spends there), Shadowlands steers away from the maudlin territory typically inhabited by doomed romances, emphasizing instead the emotional journeys of each character, both in terms of their time together and apart. Winger subtly plays a woman whom life has continually disappointed, and who is faced with the prospect of leaving it just as her fortunes have turned around. Hopkins' character is one who's come to think he's solved life's mysteries and must suddenly admit how little he knows. Teamed with Attenborough's restrained direction, they create a deeply memorable drama of unexpected renewal.

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