With this comprehensive retrospective, showcasing all of the late British filmmaker Terence Davies' short and feature-length films, the Pompidou Centre pays homage to the director and screenwriter, celebrating his intimate films and poetry. The Centre Pompidou had been preparing this retrospective for months when Davies was struck by illness. They decided, in consultation with him and his loved ones, that it would go on whatever happened.
Terence Davies built a unique and moving body of work from the mid-1970s until his passing. His stories reveal a deep connection to storytelling, reflecting the creator's relationship to childhood recollections, memory, and the passing of time, and the challenges of creation. Some of his films are adaptations of Anglo-Saxon literary classics. In others, he takes us on a journey into the past of his home city, Liverpool, providing a unique and poetic lens on working-class culture, set to a backdrop of music that blends the popular and the classical. Davies collaborated with renowned actors, including Gena Rowlands, Gillian Anderson, Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, and Simon Russell Beale.
The retrospective is the first dedicated to Terence Davies in France and, alongside the complete body of his work, it also features his final feature film Les Carnets de Siegfried (Benediction), released in France on 6 March. It portrays the life of the English poet Siegfried Sassoon in England during the first half of the 20th century and is being distributed by Condor Distribution.
The Centre Pompidou also commissioned a short film from the director before his passing away, Home! Home!, filmed posthumously according to his instructions by James Dowling. In addition to film screenings, the programme offers live discussions with Jack Lowden (to be confirmed) and Simon Russell Beale, presentations by filmmakers, critics, collaborators, and videos exploring Terence Davies' work and enduring legacy, featuring guests who will testify to the impact the late director had on them (Todd Haynes, Sally Potter, Mark Cousins, Matías Piñeiro, Jonás Trueba etc.).
