Terence Davies Trilogy (The)
- Director: Terence Davies
- Writer: Terence Davies
CGiii Comment
Children (1976)
School violence by pupils and teachers alike.
It may bring back painful memories for those of a certain age. Maybe a little too painful.
It's slow and quiet and violent.
Not for everyone...but agonisingly real.
Madonna and Child (1980)
Continuing with the humdrum sorrow of Catholic life - and it's always the quiet ones who have the strangest demands.
It's so morose and sullen - let the sunshine in - for God's sake.
It definitely is grim up north.
Death and Transfiguration (1983)
He's an old man now - with his regrets...he's had a few.
For all this piety and devotion - you end your life with not a shred of dignity.
A harrowing film indeed.
Tucker's life is a testament to the misery that religion can inflict upon an individual - especially when they are gay.
Davies is unrelenting in his condemnation.
His visuals are vividly stark and uncompromising.
Painful - truly painful.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Davies' film is divided into three segments enitled "Children", "Madonna and Child", and "Death and Transfiguartion". The segments tell the life of Robert Tucker. The first segment looks at his birth and formative years in school, an austere boy's school. The bleak environment is not aided by loveless, violent homelife he experiences. Nonetheless, his father's death is a major impact to him. In the second segment, he is a closeted homosexual working in a grim office and still living at home with his daunting mother. In the final segment, he deals with his mother's death and then faces his own impending doom. As his death approaches he flashes back to his life's events.
Cast & Characters
Terry O'Sullivan as Robert Tucker;
Wilfrid Brambell as Robert Tucker;
Sheila Raynor as Robert's Mother;
Gypsy Dave Cooper as Man with Tattoo;
Jeanne Doree;
Robin Hooper;
Valerie Lilley;
Phillip Mawdsley as Tucker - child;
Iain Munro as Tucker age 8;
Nick Stringer