All Passion Spent (1986)

British mini-series based on the book by Vita Sackville-West. Wendy Hiller(so delightful in supporting roles in the films Separate Tables (1957) and The Elephant Man (1980), and here more then up to the task of a lead (I just made the realization that that was her in I Know Where I'm Going, so of course she is up to the lead)), is Lady Slain, the recently window spouse of a highly admired former Prime Minister and Viceroy of India. It is 1930 and Mrs. Slain, at the age of 85, is for the first time in her life free of the duties and responsibilities that defined her existence. As a youth she had wanted to be an artist, but she had married as was expected of her, and although it was to a man she dearly loved, she can’t help but feel she missed something in life. She traveled the world with her husband, watched his career sore although they never made a great deal of money, and raised five children. Now all Lady Slain desires out of what’s left of her life is to retire to a small house in the country, associate with good people her own age, and reflect on her life, though this meets with the disapproval of her three most tiresome children.

Having seen this adaptation I feel a desire, much stronger then is typical for me, to read the book on which it is based. There is an awareness, a perception in the story, as well as a subtlety about human character that is masterful. It is a deceptively simple tale, on that surface, not all that much really seems to happen, but there is volumes spoken here about family relationships, expectations versus dreams, societal changes over time, love and duty. I marvel at this thing, and though it has its limitations as cinema, I expect it is a force as a novel, and might even make a good play if rendered in several parts. You may enjoy this if you watch it, but you’d probably be even better served to find the book and read it, I orderd my copy today. Grade: B+