We meet Sassoon, a budding poet, as a soldier fighting in WW1. But when he writes a blistering letter about atrocities happening in war, the authorities declare him mentally unfit to serve in the war, to avoid treason. There he meets and falls in love with another patient Wilfred Owen, who is also a poet. They both encourage each other but are never able to act on their love and soon Owen is sent back to war and ultimately dies. After the war, he comes back and starts hanging in literary circles with some prominent people and names are dropped (which mean nothing for people like me ignorant about literature). From here, for almost an hour, we see how Sassoon keeps looking for love in all wrong men. He meets Ivor Novello, a calculative man and a stage performer and they both have this instant connection and Ivor just dumps his then boyfriend for Sassoon. Sassoon definitely is more involved but Ivor can't help but go through his philandering ways to meeting other men. It's too late by the time Sassoon realizes. He then meets another guy Stephen Tennant, who also just wants to use him for physical pleasure, but they never are able to return each other's love. Its only Glen, Ivor's ex, who actually shows some kindness and compassion. The film quickly then moves to 60's where we meet older Sassoon, who is now married to a woman and has a son. Stephen comes to apologize for his behavior 30 years ago, but Sassoon would never be able to forget how he broke his heart. HE is an agin troubled man who tried to find peace and self acceptance with marriage and religion.
The first 30 minutes of the film were highly messy and just not engaging enough. War scenes intercepted with poetry recitals was something that I was not expecting of the film. It felt unfocussed and I just wasn't sure where the film was heading. It felt like such a waste of time and even when you see Sassoon and Owen clearly attracted and in love but could never act on it, And I wasn't sure what will happen next. But the mood suddenly changes, when the gay life is in your face and next 60-70 minutes are spent on Sassoon's personal love life with three different men. This is when it became slightly interesting for me. Here we get a sassy, naughty, witty and bitchy portrait of the gay London life in 1920s, but certain things just didn't make sense. When it was clear that Ivor was not the man Sassoon expected him to be, why would such a fearless poet and soldier was so clueless about love. He would literally beg Ivor to still be with him despite his philandering ways. If as an audience I can't understand what is it about Ivor that attracts Sassoon towards him, then IW as already lost. And then it follows the pattern with two other guys and then quickly moves to 60s. I wouldn't expect a biopic to play out like this. The was more like a collage of events, specifically focussing on the war, love, closeted life and sometimes religion. Based on the instant of the movie, it could be any of those things.
The production quality is top notch and all the actors do a marvelous and amazing job. Of course, the lead actor stands out for the confident portrayal of Siegfried Sassoon and is very believable. He is actually very very good. But somewhere the character loses credibility and I am not sure what could have been done about it, since its all true. Sassoon goes from fearless young man to hopeless romantic with all kinds of wrong men, then goes for a conventional straight marriage and finally a bitter irritable man always lashing out at his son and wife. I would never have any empathy with such a man. Surely, horrors of war can mess up people in ways that we can't imagine, but still ! Anyway, overall it was a poetic ode and tribute to a celebrated poet (for those who know him and are familiar with his work), but for others like me, the film felt too long and stretched beyond 2 hours and is strictly an ok watch. Definitely nowhere close to the hype and press it is getting. (5/10)
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