Wit - Movie Review
Emma Thompson and Mike Nichols Adapt Heartbreaking Drama
May 11, 2009 Jennifer Thompson
Vivian Bearing (Thompson) is a disciplined, esteemed, rather tough English professor dealing with a sensitive issue - her health. After being diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, Vivian is forced to reassess her life and decide what's really important. WIT also tells the stories of the people Vivian touches, including her healthcare team.
Wit is Wisdom
WIT is the made-for-TV (HBO) adaptation (teleplay by Emma Thompson and Mike Nichols, who directs) of Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. Although the title evokes an assumption of humor, its true intent is to express the concept of human intellect. It’s an intensely emotional, heartbreaking story that portrays the devastation of one woman’s battle with not only her terminal illness, but also with her own self-perception.
Vivian’s oncologist, Dr. Kelekian (Christopher Lloyd), outlines in very technical terms the extent of her cancer and his desire that she should undergo an eight-treatment course of experimental chemotherapy. As her treatment progresses, Vivian’s illness and the side effects of her treatment become more debilitating, but she valiantly and stoically endures the ‘full dose’ that Dr. Kelekian insists upon.
Since Vivian is undergoing experimental therapy, the physicians who interact with her concentrate solely on how the treatment is working, rather than on how Vivian is feeling. The film’s opening line (“Hi. How are you feeling today?”) is repeated by various caregivers over the course of Vivian’s hospitalization, but it’s key to the heart of the story that those who ask really don’t care about her answer. Vivian’s standard response is “fine,” when in truth she isn’t fine at all.
The one person who seems to be more interested in Vivian’s state of mind and physical condition than in her value as a research subject is her nurse, Susie (Audra McDonald, Gray’s Anatomy, Private Practice), a compassionate young woman who does everything she can to make Vivian’s final days as tolerable as possible.
A Unique Perspective
In large part, Vivian tells her own story, addressing the audience directly in a narrative monologue style. Incorporated throughout are flashback scenes, in which Vivian recalls her interactions with various people over the course of her life – including her father, her mentor, and one of her students – as well as present time scenes where she interacts with her caregivers during her treatment. The flashback scenes are cleverly staged in a fashion that renders them all the more poignant.
From the opening line to the point at which her character slips into unconsciousness, Thompson gives a stellar performance. She delivers Vivian’s dry and ironic dialogue with flawless charm and shows the vulnerability of Vivian’s pain and loneliness with a pathos that is both tangible and touching.
This is not a feel-good kind of movie, and it actually may be a bit too intense for some. But the issue it addresses is an important one, and the excellence with which it is told makes the story gripping and timeless.
Starring Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd
Avenue Pictures Productions, 2001 (HBO)
Directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Birdcage)
Rated PG-13
99 minutes
available on DVD
Wit starring Emma Thompson
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