The South Bank Show (TV Series) A Time There Was... A profile of Benjamin Britten (1980) User Reviews

Disappointingly shallow, simple TV doc about Britain's greatest composer

[OldAle1 · 5/10 · 5 May 2007]

This late-70s TV film is composed mostly of clips/interviews with people who knew Britten, including most poignantly his lifelong companion Sir Peter Pears; some of the comments made are funny or heartwarming, but alas very little in this film is truly illuminating or intellectually discerning -- it's a very basic point-by-point account of Britten's life that just touches on the basics, nevermind giving us any actual insight into the man's deeper personality, his conflicts over his sexuality, or most importantly his music. His great contemporaries and (presumable) influences Elgar, Delius, Holst and Bridge are barely mentioned; lesser luminaries of the British scene and other significant composers from abroad including his great friend Shostakovich are either ignored completely or touched on only in passing. The great conflicts in Britten's music between the conservative and the avant-garde, the melodic and rapturous, the sacred music and the secular man, are nowhere to be found. Although I enjoyed a lot of the reminiscences of friends and family, personal observations only go so far when trying to describe a man as difficult, intense and many-sided as Britten. To me this is the greatest of all English composers, but this documentary is a poor starting point for those ignorant of his genius and certainly offers nothing to the specialist.