The acclaimed filmmaker Terence Davies passed away at the age of 77 after battling a brief illness. Davies was known for his poetic and evocative films that delved into his difficult upbringing in Liverpool. Despite the often-brutal subject matter, his films were interspersed with moments of beauty and joy. Davies himself struggled with self-loathing and despair but had a sharp wit that could surprise others.
Davies gained recognition with his shorts, referred to as The Terence Davies Trilogy, which followed a character named Robert Tucker from childhood to death. The first part, Children (1976), was inspired by Davies’s own life and showcased Robert’s experience as a bullied schoolboy grappling with his sexuality. The trilogy’s final part, Death and Transfiguration (1983), imagined Robert as an elderly man on his deathbed. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), his debut feature, was based on his childhood memories of a family dealing with a volatile father, portrayed by actor Pete Postlethwaite. The Long Day Closes (1992) focused on Davies’s youthful memories and his love of cinema.
Davies carried over his trademark aesthetic and sensibility to literary adaptations such as The House of Mirth (1999) and A Quiet Passion (2016), as well as Benediction (2021), which features the life of Siegfried Sassoon. His films often revolved around themes of religion, repression, and art’s sublimity, whether drawing from his own or other people’s lives.
Davies was one of ten children born to parents Helen and Thomas Davies. He cherished his four years of happiness as a child, which ended when he started secondary school. He worked as a clerk and bookkeeper before studying at Coventry Drama School and writing Children. Funded by the BFI Production Board, the film introduced him as part of a new wave of British talent, alongside Peter Greenaway, Bill Douglas, and Derek Jarman
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