Tom & Viv (1994)

Director:

Brian Gilbert

Writers:

Michael Hastings (play)
Michael Hastings (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 December 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

For better, for worse, forever.

Plot:

In 1915, T.S. (Tom) Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood elope, but her longstanding gynecological and emotional problems disrupt their planned honeymoon...

Plot Keywords:

Courtship | Based On Literary | Docudrama | T.S. Eliot | England

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Willem Dafoe	...	Tom Eliot
Miranda Richardson	...	Vivienne Haigh-Wood
Rosemary Harris	...	Rose Haigh-Wood
Tim Dutton	...	Maurice Haigh-Wood
Nickolas Grace	...	Bertrand Russel
Geoffrey Bayldon	...	Harwent
Clare Holman	...	Louise Purdon
Philip Locke	...	Charles Haigh-Wood
Joanna McCallum	...	Virginia Woolf
Joseph O'Conor	...	Bishop of Oxford
John Savident	...	Sir Frederick Lamb
Michael Attwell	...	W.I. Janes
Sharon Bower	...	Secretary
Linda Spurrier	...	Edith Sitwell
Roberta Taylor	...	Ottoline Morrell

Runtime:

Argentina:115 min | Sweden:126 min | UK:125 min | USA:115 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Iceland:L | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

British Screen Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Game-On: (#3.2)" (1998)

A tragic tale of creative power, love, and societal conformity in the mid-1900s.

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.