DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES
UK, 1988, 85 minutes, Colour.
Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams, Lorraine Ashbourne.
Directed by Terence Davies.
Distant Voices, Still Lives is a masterpiece from British director, Terence Davies. Davies grew up in the 1940s and 1950s in Liverpool and this is a film which is part memory, part imagination, or what he calls “a mosaic of memories�.
It follows his group of short films from the 1980s, Terence Davies Trilogy.
Four years later, Davies was to release a very personally autobiographic film about a little boy in the mid-50s in Liverpool, his family, the importance of music, movie musicals, Catholic religion and piety, and the beginnings of a discovery about homosexuality, The Long Days Dying.
Davies has made many fine films including The House of Mirth, The Neon Bible and, after some time, a new version of The Deep Blue Sea, A Quiet Passion about Emily Dickinson and a documentary about Liverpool itself.
This film was made over a period of two years, the first part, Distant Voices, filming for five weeks, then the writing of the second part, Still Lives and filming over four weeks. It is a powerful portrait of life in Liverpool, in a family where the father dominates, is violently cruel, but dies and is mourned though the family is relieved. He is played most effectively by Pete Postlethwaite. The hard put upon mother is played by Freda Dowie. In the first part, we see the children and the effect of the Father during World War II and the bombings.
In the second part, during the 1950s, there is a mellower atmosphere, the father absent – yet men still being dominant and the women being patient. There is a focus on the children of the family, the celebration of a wedding, a baptismal sequence, celebration and the pub…
It has been pointed out that perhaps half the running time of the film is occupied by music and the singing of songs, popular British songs, characters revealing their personalities through song, some of the American musicals songs.
1. The film considered a classic? From the 1980s? The work of Terence Davies, autobiographical themes, memory and a mosaic of memories?
2. The making of the film, five weeks of shooting, two years delay, writing the second part, four weeks of shooting? And combining the two parts?
3. The Liverpool settings, the 1940s and 50s, scenes of the city itself, the homes, church, Hospital? The desaturated colour and its effect? The range of Catholic imagery? The statue of Mary, the candles, choral background?
4. The title, the series of vignettes, birth, marriages, death?
5. The importance of the music, occupying half the length of the film? The range of songs: eg Blues when it’s raining; there’s a man going round taking notes; If you knew Susie, Here I go again, taking a chance on love;, Roll out the barrel; When Irish eyes are smilin’; Smarvellous; Buttons and Bows…? Their insertion into the drama? Sung by groups, sung by individuals?
6. The portrait of the family, the severe father, the patient mother, the sisters, Tony? The harsh atmosphere? During the years of World War II bombardments?
7. Part one: the BBC shipping News, the rain, the funeral, the wedding and Eileen, memories of the father, the father inarticulate, not communicating? The blitz and violence? Selling wood and the bombs?
8. Part two: Maisie, the daughter, the pub and the celebration of the baby, the baptismal sequence? The different atmosphere of the home, the 1950s, cozy, carefree? The women and the men, the men’s domination by words and physical action? Women enduring? Stoic? The importance of the character of Mickey?
9. The cumulative effect of this kind of memoir of the British family?
