The great Terence Davies presents a film about the often tortured life of the poet Siegfried Sassoon who was so traumatised by what he saw in the trenches of World War I.
Jack Lowden is excellent as Sassoon, brilliantly showing his anger at the way the war was conducted, but also displaying a beguiling charm in the early parts of the film. In the supporting cast there are terrific performance from Simon Russell Beale as his mentor and Julian Sands has never been better as the understanding doctor who Siegfried sees. Davies brings some poetic beauty, brilliantly weaving in real war footage and Sassoon’s poetry into the story in the first half of the film, where we also meet the tragic Wilfred Owen.
The second part of the film, set after the end of the war works less well. Sassoon changes into a bitter and selfish person that he was not originally on his return from the front. The story concentrates mostly on his series of relationships with vain and vindictive men. I felt it diluted the power of the earlier part of the movie.
As with all Davies’ films this has a lot to recommend it, but I think Gillies McKinnon’s Regeneration from 1997 told Sassoon’s and Owen’s stories more powerfully.
Rating: 7 out of 10