Film discussion: A Quiet Passion

June 12, 2017
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At The Music Hall, summer doesn’t cause so much as a hiccup, though, as the mission of bringing worthy movies and live entertainments to the Seacoast never takes a holiday.

Tomorrow, (Tuesday) we will be discussing A Quiet Passion, Terence Davies’ hit movie about Emily Dickinson, the perennially celebrated poet from just down the pike in Amherst, MA.

Audiences and critics have loved this movie, and I’ve been looking forward to it for months now. I’m told that Cynthia Nixon, who plays Emily, captures something wonderful in this fascinating, somewhat enigmatic character. (Oscar’s sacred name has been invoked.)

I’ve been fascinated over the years, not so much by the enduring enthusiasm for Dickinson, as for the major shifts her reputation has taken. When I was learning “I’m nobody, who are you?” in high school, she was an eccentric spinster who may have been disappointed in love.

Now, however, as we learn more about her and her work and life, Dickinson has acquired a parade of admirers who are retrieving her seriousness and incredible creativity in both thought and orthography from past misjudgments and underestimations.

This will be a somewhat unusual discussion, as it also happens to be my birthday. Noticing this, I took the opportunity to celebrate the day in the best way I know how, which is to spend at least part of it talking about movies.

Accordingly, in addition to the usual coffee and popcorn that TMH generously offers (gratis) to discussants, I will attempt to provide some celebratory cake for those who stick around to talk about the movie.

I’d like to encourage you to bring a favorite poem as well. I’ll do the same. Poetry doesn’t get a lot of respect until people hear it read aloud (remember Four Weddings and a Funeral?) and it can be a great revelation.

I hope to see you there, which will be at 7:00 in The Historic Theater. And you should probably mark your calendars for I, Daniel Blake on June 27, Their Finest (which should be hilarious) on July 18 and The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography, the latest Errol Morris documentary masterpiece on August 1.