(Directed by Norman Stone. Screenplay by Norman Stone, from a stage play by Max McLean. Produced by the Fellowship for the Performing Arts. https://www.cslewismovie.com/home/)
C.S. Lewis continues to be one of the 20th century’s best known Christian thinkers. Unlike many well-known Christian apologists, he was an atheist for many years. His journey to faith was unusual, centering on what he called “joy,” a strange longing for something he found was supernatural. In his book, Surprised by Joy, Lewis calls himself “the most reluctant convert” when he finally came to believe in God. This film tells Lewis’ spiritual journey, from his loss of faith as a child to his return to Christianity in his 30s. Max McLean (who has played Lewis extensively onstage) plays an older Lewis, looking back at his life. Nicolas Ralph (best-known for playing James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small) plays a young Lewis in scenes of Lewis’ early academic life at Oxford. Eddie Ray Martin plays a child Lewis in a scene of his upbringing.
The film is developed from Max McLean’s one man play of the same name, and takes an unusual approach. Rather than use the play as a guideline and create whole new scenes, or make McLean a narrator with actors or animation showing the action, it maintains the one man play aspect. We start with McLean getting dressed for a performance, then he starts talking in character as Lewis on a stage. Then he steps out of the stage and into a British museum, talking to the camera as he walks, passing people in 1940s-1950s period costume. He spends the rest of the movie walking in and out of rooms (Lewis’ childhood home, the Kilns, an Oxford pub, etc.). As he talks, the camera either shows characters around him acting out scenes (child Lewis seeing his mother die, young Lewis walking with J.R.R. Tolkien around Oxford) or cuts to those scenes with McLean narrating. Many times, McLean’s older Lewis walks past Ralph’s younger Lewis, who doesn’t notice him – a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge seeing his younger selves. It’s not until near the movie’s end that we get a scene in a church where Ralph’s younger Lewis looks around and possibly sees the older Lewis – as if now that he’s come back to faith, he really sees.
Thanks to this format, the film can cover the 20+ years of Lewis’ spiritual journey in a short time. Like the play Hamilton or Martin Scorsese’s crime films, it gives you a central character who narrates everything, talks to the audience, and keeps things going at a fast pace. Not counting the “making of” featurette, the film clocks in at less than 90 minutes. Many scenes are short, but the actors are believable and compelling. Sometimes, the acting even adds cues suggesting a deeper story: Richard Harrington plays Lewis’ father Albert as unsure how to connect with his sons, but with moments of warmth. Much has been said about how Surprised by Joy depicts Albert Lewis as a strict Victorian “wet blanket” while family papers show he could be a very funny man (and like his son, wrote stories). Those moments add an extra level to the story – it’s very much an autobiography from one person’s subjective perspective, but not afraid to show a little more here and there.
Occasionally, the movie does the well-used biopic technique of showing a character doing their signature action, saying a signature line or something else that feels a bit forced. Young Lewis sticks a mirror on his desk and stares into it while older Lewis narrates, “for the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose…” J.R.R. Tolkien is seen eating with Lewis and Hugo Dyson, and recites the “Jesus was either lord, liar or lunatic” argument that Lewis later used in Mere Christianity. These moments happen in almost every biopic, and when done poorly, feel ridiculous. The 2019 movie Tolkien went overboard with this technique (Tolkien’s schoolfriends declaring that they are “a fellowship!”) and reduced Tolkien’s life to just interesting story fodder. Here, Norman Stone’s script keeps these moments to a minimum, so it doesn’t feel overdone. The movie also grounds the moments in settings that make them feel plausible – it doesn’t feel odd to see a 30-something Oxford Tolkien monologuing about Jesus during a debate about God with two other Oxford scholars.
The only thing close to a flaw with this movie is the fact that it’s one man play aspect is so risky. It puts all the attention on one narrator, and if audiences don’t like him, the movie won’t work. Imagine watching Hamilton with someone who doesn’t like Lin-Manual Miranda, and you’ll understand the “pass/fail” nature of this technique. It also differs from what Norman Stone did the last time he told a C.S. Lewis story – in the original 1985 version of Shadowlands. That TV film dramatized a chapter of Lewis’ life with little references (Douglas Gresham implying Lewis is like Professor Kirke in Narnia) to Lewis’ books. This movie avoids that artificial approach; there are no moments where young C.S. Lewis walks through a snowy forest and sees a lamppost. Instead, Stone aims for something artificial in a different way: a movie that openly admits its stage play origin, maintains the play’s central device, but finds ways to make it visually interesting. The film’s use of food (older Lewis talking as he makes tea, gets up from eating breakfast, etc.) particularly helps, giving McLean little actions to do as he talks.
This approach could have easily gone wrong, but it works brilliantly for two reasons. First, McLean’s narration is very engaging. His lines are closely based on Lewis’ writing, but sound as good when said aloud as they do on a page. Secondly, McLean goes beyond being a narrator who talks from a chair. He dresses like Lewis and talks in that unique Irishman-at-Oxford style that Lewis used. When he walks or sits down or gestures, he has a slightly tired, headfirst but casual body language. It’s the poise of a bright yet relatable man comfortable in his own skin. This very physical performance gives Lewis texture, making him into a real person to connect with.
An innovative, accessible and compelling biopic about a great man.
Thank you!