Customer Reviews

Wit (Widescreen)

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Emma Thompson is just unbelievable in this role. There isn't much to look at in this film, just basically a hospital bed and some flashbacks. It's the dialog that was just incredible. How she describes her illness, what she is feeling, her childhood is so incredible. I was glued to the movie, I didn't want to miss a word. I can't say enough about this film, I just wish there were more that relied on good dialog instead of vulgarity, explosions and car chases. This movie will be a classic. What a beautiful film.

I have just read through some of the Customer Reviews for Wit here on Amazon and felt an urge to try my own for the first time. Just going through the reviews alone brought tears to my eyes, as they brought back hauntingly beautiful and powerful images of the movie to my memory. And it's been over six months since I watched the actual movie! I absolutely adore this film and admire its director and all the talented actors, without whom this extraordinary masterpiece could not have existed. Although I don't personally know of anyone (no one too close anyways) who had to go through a terrible scourge that is cancer, and English is not my first language, this film touched my heart to its deepest core and spawned an interest in John Donne and other English literary works. It made me go out and buy an Arvo Pärt CD as well! Thank goodness I could be one of the few people who were fortunate enough to discover this on CatchOn(HBO-affiliate of Korea). Now all I need is a Wit Soundtrack if only they would release one!

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,

Doctor Vivian Bearing, a tough, intellectual professor specializing in 17th century literature, takes on the challenge to undergo eight months of experimental chemotherapy and a combination of drugs to battle advanced metastatic ovarian cancer, in which she is in Stage 4, a cancer for which there is no Stage 5. She will also be studied by medical students, her illness being a significant contribution to knowledge. To be something studied, as opposed to a human being, yes, there's the rub, to quote the Bard. But she is a tough woman, never one to shirk a challenge.

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

Most of the story has Bearing's soliloquys, spoken to the viewer from her hospital bed, bald-headed and wearing a hospital gown, describing what she's thinking and feeling, and she does so with wit. One learns of her fascination with words, her past history as a student and academic, how she has preferred research to humanity, and her tough style of teaching, which she got from her mentor, Professor E.M. Rumford. There's a fascinating discussion between Bearing and Rumford, where the original punctuation at the end of Donne's "Death Be Not Proud" included a comma in the line, "death, thou shalt die." In other words, a comma separates life from life everlasting. Yet when Rumford tells her to go hang out with her students instead of going to the library Bearing goes to the library. Later, when a young doctor, Jason, tells her how he's fascinated by cancer due to its smartness, calling it "immortality in culture," it's ironic that she wishes he would be more interested in humanity rather than research.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

As for flashbacks, there are times when we cut to a scene when she's a five year old reading a Beatrix Potter book, that she alternates between her five-year old self and as she is now, bald and in the hospital gown, symbolizing how fragile she seems despite bearing up.

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

She presents her illness in a paradox in the manner of Donne himself, when she says that with her immune system down, everything is a hazard, especially the health care professionals. She isn't in the isolation ward because she has a grapefruit-sized tumor, but because her treatment imperils her health. But she revels in the paradox, seeing it as an intellectual game. But when the cancer spreads elsewhere, she begins to get frightened, realizing her intellectual abilities isn't going to help her, but that she seeks simplicity and kindness, and that makes her regret she had been sympathetic to some of her own students. Fortunately, she finds that in Susie, the nurse, with whom she has a rapport with.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,

Juxtaposing this movie with my mother's recent battle with cancer did ring some emotional chords due to similarities. My mother wasn't as open as Dr. Bearing in her feelings when undergoing CT Scans, ultrasounds, colonoscopies, or the IPT chemotherapy. But she too looked for kindness and simplicity, and when a certain hospital worker wheeled her chair to a spot of sunshine on a cold day after a CT scan, my mother realized that maybe she was wrong in being too tough, and that she had hurt some people in her past.

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;

This is by far Emma Thompson's best role ever, but Audra McDonald as Susie lends strong support as the very human and compassionate nurse, who sees Bearing as a human being, not a subject for study. Those who have just lost a dear one to cancer may find this painful going, others will find this a study of reflection one experiences when near the portals of mortality.

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Documentary type style of story about a person's diagnosis and end of life experience with cancer from their perspective. Well written, fantastically portrayed.

An essential for the up and coming generation of health care workers. It is well written and acted. I cannot imagine a more powerful learning toolin the fieldof palliative care and nursing in general. Brings up some ethical issues we all deal with in this fast paces demanding society.

Extremely well acted HBO movie. The characters and story line convey a realistic and heart wrenching account of a person's living and dying with a critical illness. It invoked emotions ranging from humour to sadness. This is definitely not a movie one would view expecting light entertainment. The ending was especially poignant.

Quite simply, one of the best movies I have ever seen.

I stumbled across it on television one evening. Having no idea of the subject matter, I decided to "catch a couple of minutes" to see what it was all about. Well, those first couple of minutes hooked me like a fish and I couldn't change the channel...couldn't walk away...couldn't bear to miss so much as a moment of this film.

It's sad, yes.
It haunts you.
It is as wonderful as it is horrible.
It is not to be missed.

This movie shows the depth of Emma Thompson's skill as an actor. The subject of terminal illness is daunting at best, and fraught with controversy on every side. Thompson has taken us on this perilous journey in a performance that speaks to the inadequacies of preparation of many caregivers in the system, lack of personal support systems, and condescending attitudes of many physicians who refuse to give their patients the autonomy they deserve when making decisions about their treatment options.
I wouldn't have missed this movie for anything, even though I felt, at the end, as though I had been "through a wringer backwards". I'm glad I decided to purchase it.
N.B. Have plenty of tissues on hand.

Emma Thompson's and Mike Nichols's HBO teleplay based on Margaret Edson's stage play was both fascinating and emotional.

Thompson plays Vivian Bearing, an English professor who is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. The film follows her from her diagnosis to her death; during this time she questions life and finds her answers while examining the sonnets of John Donne. The implication that life is simply an observation by the people who live is deeply provocative and moving.

Direction by Nichols is superb, and cinematography by Seamus McGarvey is terribly poignant: the final scene in particular is breathtaking. The cast is first-class, led by an impeccable performances by Emma Thompson and four-time Tony-winner (wow!) Audra McDonald. HBO has once again delivered a winning piece of cinematic art to its audiences.

I won't comment on the excellence of this film as many commentators have done this in their reviews to date. I simply would like to add that I found the music to be completely appropriate, particularily Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,Nonesuch Records with Soprano Dawn Upshaw).

The second movement was inspired by a prayer scratched on the wall of a Nazi Gestapo prison cell by a young Polish women whose life was unexpectedly and tragically ended by the brutalism of WWII. Replace prison with hospital and WWII with cancer and you have the tragedy of Dr Bearing (Emma Thompson). This particular recording had wide appeal and immediately became a best seller when it first became available.

The prayer follows: Mother, no, do not cry,/ Queen of Heaven moste chaste/ Help me always./ Hail Mary.