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Shadowlands
C.S. Lewis .......... Anthony Hopkins
Joy Gresham
......... Debra Winger
Warnie Lewis ........ Edward Hardwicke
Prof. Riley ......... John Wood
Rev. Harrington ..... Michael Denison
Douglas Gresham
..... Joseph Mazzello
Dr. Craig ...........
Peter Firth
Savoy Pictures presents a film directed
by Richard Attenborough. Produced by Attenborough and Brian Eastman. Written by William Nicholson, based on his play. Photographed by Roger Pratt. Edited by Lesley Walker. Music by George Fenton. Running time: 133 minutes. Classified: PG (for
thematic
"Shadowlands"
will have to be counted in the very small list of recent films which
present a largely accurate and sympathetic view of Protestant Christians
who are serious about their faith. That list is so small that I can almost
repeat it from memory: "Chariots of Fire," "Tender
Mercies," "Trip to Bountiful." In that respect, this film
is perhaps not as strong as the other three, as I shall indicate below.
But it is worthy to be included in that small group, and that is a
significant fact.
Like the others, this is an
excellent film, well acted, directed, photographed, scripted. Everything
feels authentic, and the dialogue is always intelligent: witty in the
early intellectual repartee, profound in the ending sadness. Winger is a trifle inconsistent in her Jewish accent,
but that is a quibble. The supporting actors are excellent, a trademark of
the English film industry.
The story is of C. S. Lewis, known
as "Jack" to his friends, Oxford literature professor, Christian
apologist and writer of many books including the children's "Narnia" fantasies. In 1951, he meets an American
woman named Joy Gresham who has been corresponding with him. She is of
Jewish background, a poet, converted to Christianity from a history of
atheism and communism. She is also unhappily married (later divorced),
trying to raise her ten (?) year old son Douglas (who loves the Narnia books). At first, the relationship of Jack and
Joy is an intellectual duel, with increasing respect and affection.
After her divorce, she wants to
remain in England with her son, and Lewis marries her in a civil ceremony,
merely to facilitate that desire; still, they continue to live apart and
to relate to one another only as friends. Lewis tells nobody of
this marriage of convenience except his brother and housemate
Warnie.
But Joy discovers she is dying of
cancer. In caring for her, Lewis discovers real love, and in the hospital
room he marries her for real, before a clergyman, with a ring.
Eventually she does move into his home and they enjoy brief periods of marital
happiness before the end comes. The ending is bittersweet in a way
somewhat reminiscent of "Love Story," though more profound
because (in my view) the couple in the present film has far more spiritual
substance.
Narnia
readers will be moved by the scenes in which Douglas discovers an old
wardrobe in Lewis's attic and pushes his way
through the garments seeking the magic land of Lewis's Chronicles. His disappointment upon
finding only a solid wall on the other side prefigures the film's sad
ending.
The film shows us Lewis several
times lecturing on "The Problem of Evil," the question of why a
good God permits evil in his creation. In the lecture scenes, the film
seems to be telling us that Lewis is all too smug about it all. One of his
colleagues early on says half-seriously that Lewis is in the business
of finding easy answers to difficult questions, and the film seems to
validate that estimate. Essentially, Lewis's lectures
in the film make the point that suffering is God's "megaphone,"
to challenge us to move from our selfish preoccupations
to greater things. Actually, Lewis's treatment
of the Problem was more complicated and more nuanced
than that, as can be seen in his Problem
of Pain.
The filmmakers try to make the point
that when Lewis himself endured tragedy all his glib assurances of his
lectures left him and he saw nothing in Joy's sufferings except
tragedy and pain. Like the boy in the wardrobe, Lewis loses his illusions.
Did Joy really need a "divine wake-up call?" Did her son? Did
anybody profit in any way from her suffering?
There is probably some truth in this
account. One might compare The
Problem of Pain with Lewis's later A Grief Observed in which he deals
with Joy's death. Such comparison, plus the biographical literature on
Lewis, suggest that Joy's death did change his perspective on evil to some
extent. Certainly it is legitimate to observe that The Problem of Pain is not a book to give someone in the
midst of a personal tragedy. Yet its reasoning is not worthless for all of
that. Even the idea of suffering as "God's wake-up call"
contains much truth. It bothers me somewhat that the film belittles
apologetics as much as it does. In my view, that evaluation fails
to distinguish sufficiently between pastoral counseling
and apologetics as an intellectual discipline. On the other hand, The Problem of Pain would certainly have
been a better book had there been in it a clearer view of divine
sovereignty and therefore a greater acknowledgment of mystery.
Although I'm properly thankful for
the sympathetic treatment of Christians here, I cannot help but observe
that this movie is about someone whose Christian theology fails him at a crucial point. I
grant that that does happen, and I don't deny that it is a fit subject for
drama. But why don't we ever see movies about how someone's faith, his
theology, sustains him through
temptation and trial? What of Lewis's conversion,
so dramatically depicted in his book "Surprised by Joy?" (The
title of the book, ironically foreshadowing his romance, was
written long before it.) Why couldn't there have been a movie about that, rather than about a theological
failure in his life? Indeed, why do we have to go back to "Beckett" and "Man For All Seasons" to
find any sort of triumphant faith?
Another problem I had in the film
was the treatment of Joy. Although we are told she is a Christian, we
learn nothing much about her own personal faith. How did she come to
Christ, out of such an unlikely background? How did her own faith bear upon
her sufferings? In the film, she is very intelligent, witty, forthright,
honest, patient, and, in the end, loving; but it is not clear how these
qualities emerge from, or interact with, her religious commitment. We
learn much of Jack's religion, but almost nothing of Joy's. Indeed, Joy
seems most often to present a kind of challenge to Jack's religion,
forcing him to rethink his assurances, reinforcing the somewhat negative
theological thrust noted above.
Is it conceivable that a woman who
had been moved by Lewis's writings enough to
want to visit him, who could identify passages in his books word-for-word,
would after meeting him never talk at all about God or Jesus? The film seems
to rather secularize the story in a way that is hardly plausible to
those of us who know C. S. Lewis through other channels. One
reviewer mentioned that when Lewis married Joy in the hospital, there
was a church healing rite performed, and her long remission
followed this. The movie omits this entirely. It does observe that
Lewis prayed for her recovery; but when someone remarks that God
is answering his prayers, Lewis objects: he is not praying to
change God, but to change himself. Does that mean that he
doesn't actually expect God to answer, and that he didn't think God
was actually answering him? Typical of Hollywood, the nuances
of Christian devotion rather escape these filmmakers.
On the whole, however, the film is excellent, a truly edifying experience for Christian believers, and a witness to unbelievers of one authentic Christian life. For all my quibbles, the real C. S. Lewis does shine through. Anyone who thinks that Christianity impoverishes one's intellect and depth of feeling ought to see this film.