"Tom & Viv" recalls the tragic marriage of poet T. S. Eliot and his first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood, in the early 20th century. Viv is a free-spirited, upper-middle-class English woman who dazzles the more introverted young Oxford student and poet Eliot (American by birth to a Boston Brahmin family) with her wild antics and joie de vivre. They quickly marry and Viv's many health problems (both physical and mental) are revealed. Things only get worse as Viv's doctors, the leaders of their profession at the time, repeatedly misdiagnose the cause of her symptoms and prescribe opium and ether to numb the pain. There are devastating results on the marriage and on the rest of Viv's life. Today, she'd probably sue her physicians, write a memoir and become a cause celebre.
The actors, particularly Miranda Richardson as Viv, Willem Dafoe as Tom (Eliot) and Rosemary Harris as Viv's sympathetic and long-suffering mother, are all excellent. The script (based on a successful play) explores an important part of our history: that mental illness has often been stigmatized and brutally treated, and that gynecological conditions were long overlooked, misunderstood, stigmatized and mistreated. The film is very good, but so somber and grim that, as a viewer, you can't help feeling sorry for these characters and even despising a few. The film gives us a glimpse at the elite literary and political circles of the era, such as members of the Bloomsbury Group, who come off as snobs.
I recommend this film, but brace yourself for a difficult experience.
The actors, particularly Miranda Richardson as Viv, Willem Dafoe as Tom (Eliot) and Rosemary Harris as Viv's sympathetic and long-suffering mother, are all excellent. The script (based on a successful play) explores an important part of our history: that mental illness has often been stigmatized and brutally treated, and that gynecological conditions were long overlooked, misunderstood, stigmatized and mistreated. The film is very good, but so somber and grim that, as a viewer, you can't help feeling sorry for these characters and even despising a few. The film gives us a glimpse at the elite literary and political circles of the era, such as members of the Bloomsbury Group, who come off as snobs.
I recommend this film, but brace yourself for a difficult experience.