Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

gemini_dremz I love this film if only for the actors! Willem Dafoe has always been one of my favorites and his portrayal of T.S. Eliot is wonderful, but Miranda Richardson's role as Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot is phenomenal. At first you have sympathy for Eliot because you think he's married to a nut case though we're never really told what's wrong with Vivienne other than "women's problems". However, as the movie moves on and you listen to the occasional narration of Vivienne's brother Maurice, you turn your sympathy towards Vivienne. Remembering Tom Eliot is an American, it's tedious watching him turn into the perfect Englishman as he'd always wanted. I do love the period costumes, cars and decor; very beautiful scenery as well. It's a rather sad story of secrets, denial and betrayal and in the end you feel left unsatisfied because once Vivienne is committed, she never gets out. One must wonder if she didn't choose to stay by her own accord even after being seen by an American Dr. who questions her long stay at the asylum. Tom has apparently moved on and must not have had regrets because Vivienne tells her brother that "I haven't' heard from Tom in ten years". It is at this point Maurice realizes what a terrible mistake he's made and is deeply ashamed of his decision to go along with Tom in having his own sister committed; a woman who was obviously very intelligent. Vivienne is quite an interesting character that leaves you wondering what she'll do next whereas Tom is most predictable. I do recommend this film.

evanston_dad The Tom and Viv of the title are T.S. Eliot and his wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood, played by Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson in an Oscar-nominated performance.I always come away from bio pics about artists thinking that the people around the artist would make a much more interesting subject for a film, because the artists themselves are usually rather dull. It's refreshing, then, that this film focuses much more on Vivienne and her struggles with mental illness than it does on the life of Eliot. The film's not entirely successful, but Richardson earned her Best Actress nomination and she's given able support by Rosemary Harris, who plays her mother in couple of brief scenes.Grade: B

kemmellie Tom and Viv is a powerful story centered on one woman's fight to be an individual in mid-nineteenth century British society. Miranda Richardson does an excellent job of portraying the emotional depth of an intelligent, carefree woman forced into living a conventional, traditional life while her doctors, husband (acclaimed American poet T.S. Eliot), and family believe her to be suffering from mental illness. Richardson captures the rage, quirkiness, and strength of a woman trying to make a difference in the world when nearly everyone she meets tries to keep her in her place. William Dafoe, as Tom, brilliantly shows the effects of Viv's upstarts on a man seeking to maintain traditional societal values and blend into a conventional, though artistic and intellectual, world. While the movie does not delve too deeply into Eliot's poetry, it centers on his life and the life of the woman he claimed to love; perhaps, making a statement on how life blends into art. Ultimately, Tom and Viv is a tragic story about the inadequate health system offered to women in the 1930s and how societal conformity put a wrench in the love and marriage of two brilliant people. It enrages the feminist, humanitarian, and author in me, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in a deep and compelling story of both a poet and a woman's fall.

sol- A reasonably well done and fairly well acted biopic of T. S. Eliot, the film is at times delightful to watch, but it is always lacking. The information it presents about Eliot feels insufficient, as his background feels uncomfortably unknown, and there is also no real indication of the setting and time of the film. It is a bit long too, not always be interesting, and really a bit ordinary at times. But it is still well acted and it does have something to say about the position of women in society. Harris and Richardson were both nominated for Oscars for their performance, but Dafoe is the one who really shines here.