Wit

Director: Mike Nichols Mike Nichols

Overview

Mike Nichols directed this superb adaptation of Margaret Edsons Wit. The disc contains a widescreen transfer that produces an image with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. English and Spanish soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Stereo. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include cast and crew biographies. Although the DVD is light on extras, Wit is worth a look for the stunning lead performance by two-time Academy Award winner Emma Thompson.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/11/2001
UPC:	0026359178122
Original Release:	2001
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Hbo Home Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Letterbox]
Sound:	[stereo, Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	43,740

Special Features

Chapter selections; Audio; Subtitles; Cast and crew bios

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Emma Thompson	Dr. Vivian Bearing
Audra McDonald	Nurse Susie Monahan
Christopher Lloyd	Dr. Harvey Kelekian
Eileen Atkins	E.M. Ashford
Jonathan M. Woodward	Dr. Jason Posner
Harold Pinter	Mr. Bearing
Rebecca Laurie	Vivian (age 5)
Su-Lin Looi	Nurse,Actor
Raffaello DeGruttola	Technician No. 1
Miquel Brown	Technician No. 2
Harry Dillon	Fellow No. 1
Benedict Wong	Fellow No. 2
Alex Gregor	Fellow No. 3
Lachele Carl	Fellow No. 4
David Menkin	Student No. 1
Rachel Siegel	Student No. 2
Shauna Shim	Student No. 3
Matt Blair	Student No. 4
David Zayas	Code Team Blue Head
Tassia Messimeris	Code Team Blue No. 2
Norman Naudain	Code Team Blue No. 3
Emma Bernbach	Code Team Blue No. 4
Jenny Jules	Code Team Blue No. 5
Gary Beadle	Code Team Blue No. 6

Technical Credits

Emma Thompson

Mike Nichols

Emma Thompson	Screenwriter
Mike Nichols	Screenwriter,Director
Cary Brokaw	Executive Producer,Producer
Simon Bosanquet	Producer

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Chapters
1. Diagnosis [4:25]
2. Standard Greetings [2:21]
3. "Begin with the text" [4:26]
4. A Doctor of Philosophy [1:30]
5. Q & A [1:28]
6. "I wish I had given him an A" [4:43]
7. Learning to Suffer [4:52]
8. Time [1:00]
9. Grand Rounds [4:43]
10. Acquisition of Vocabulary [2:04]
11. Isolation [:09]
12. Outwitted [3:26]
13. Cancer is "Awesome" [3:10]
14. The Lesson [5:41]
15. Popsicles [:43]
16. The Soporific Effect [6:55]
17. Salvation Anxiety [4:41]
18. Permission to Die [1:16]
19. "Death Thou Shalt Die" [2:20]
20. Closing Credits [:29]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Play Movie
   Audio
   Subtitles
   Cast & Director Bios
      Emma Thompson
      Christopher Lloyd
      Eileen Atkins
      Audra McDonald
      Jonathan M. Woodward
      Harold Pinter
      Mike Nichols (Director)

Editorial Reviews

The migration of top-notch cinematic talent to the less-constrained arena of pay television continued with this adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play for the cable channel HBO from director Mike Nichols. Nichols gives it the old college try with plenty of high angles and creative lighting schemes, but the story never quite succeeds in overcoming its stage-bound roots. That's the sole flaw, however, of what is one of the year's best made-for-television films, nominated for seven Emmys and winning three (including one for Nichols as Best Director). An emotionally devastating portrait of a dying woman whose superior mind and flinty personality are intact to an unfortunate and heartbreaking degree, the film manages to have its lacerating say about the educational and health care systems while never forgetting that it's primarily the tale of a dying woman who is fighting to maintain a shred of dignity while having been stripped down, literally, to her essence, even her hair having been taken away. Wit is the story of a person who couldn't possibly be more naked, refusing to give in to self-pity despite mind-numbing amounts of pain and humiliation, a demanding role that requires a mammoth talent. Emma Thompson doesn't disappoint, with a performance that is absolutely stunning in its emotional complexity, intellectual integrity, and sheer elastic flexibility: deconstructing the death imagery in the work of poet John Donne one minute, vomiting into a basin the next, she has made herself by turns as ravaged, flinty, desperate, and fiercely defiant as her character. Theirs is certainly not a film for the faint of heart, but Nichols and Thompson have created something special and given the world further proof that some of the best artistic work in film can now be found in television, the medium once considered cinema's greatest nemesis.

All Movie Guide - Karl Williams

Thompson, who worked with Nichols to adapt Edson's play, never seeks our pity in her portrayal of a dying woman. Rather, she strives to reflect the woman's mental state and her sense of herself that will not bow to the disease. Kirk Honeycutt

Hollywood Reporter