A non-conventional film biography of the poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden), Benediction spans three distinct eras: the horror and waste of World War I, and the poetry it gave rise to; the interwar years of “gay” society (and covert homosexuality); and finally the 1960s, where we see the elderly poet, played by Peter Capaldi, attempt to find some lasting truth in his life through the Catholic church as he irritates his long-suffering wife (Gemma Jones) and son with his opinions on popular music.

The challenge for Davies is that the life is a slow descent, from the urgency of the war years through the bitchiness and heartbreak of the Jazz Age to the suburban disgruntlement of old age. What holds your attention is the superb acting, often in relatively minor roles: Simon Russell Beale as Robbie Ross, Ben Daniels as the psychiatrist WHR Rivers, and Matthew Tennyson as Wilfred Owen. Also notable is the way that Davies tempers the barbed wit, sexual rejection and grumbling by repeatedly revisiting, through music and poetry, the vast ocean of sadness that lies at the heart of Sassoon.

Some critics have bracketed the film with Davies’ biopic of the poet Emily Dickinson, A Quiet Passion (2016), but there are arguably more fruitful connections with the social viciousness of The House of Mirth (2000) and the sexual anxiety and jealousy of The Deep Blue Sea (2011), which also featured Russell Beale. Others have seen this as the latest instalment of Davies’ own biography and oft-stated opinions, in particular his dissatisfaction with his homosexuality and the “scars” left by the church.

“Few filmmakers have Davies’ gift for evoking states of loneliness, and here he suggests the terrible isolation visited upon those who endured the horrors of armed conflict.” Justin Chang, LA Times

“Benediction is an expansive movie of loss, isolation, and horror; it’s an energizing and inspiring movie about the vanity of existence itself.” Richard Brody, The New Yorker

This is an LGBT History Month screening.