Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
80%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: 11 wins & 7 nominations
Bracingly original and beautifully composed, Distant Voices, Still Lives is an invigorating period drama that finds director Terence Davies in peak form
Distant Voices, Still Lives is a film that will make you laugh, cry, and wonder how a forty-four-year-old man could create such a masterpiece. The movie takes you on a journey through memories, evoking both joy and horror with a sense of wonder. The director’s distinctive style and the authentic acting keep the movie going, even when the optimism is depressing. And just when you think you have it all figured out, a scene of shocking beauty will take your breath away. This film is a must-see for anyone who loves poetic filmmaking and wants to treasure one of the great British films.
Production Company(ies)
Hideout Pictures, Shout! Factory Shout! Studios,
Distributor
Avenue
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
PG-13
Year of Release
1989
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.78 : 1
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Runtime:1h 24m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Sep 11, 1988 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 24, 2019
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Lorraine Ashbourne, Dean Williams, Freda Dowie, Angela Walsh, Pete Postlethwaite, directed by Terence Davies, written by Terence Davies, drama, PG-13, box office gross $10.0K, reviewed by Peter Bradshaw, Danny King, Richard Brody, Dave Kehr, Sheila Benson, Peter Travers, Gabriel Ricard, Nancy Williamson, Shawn Glinis, Maximilian Von Thun, Gary Thompson, autobiographical, working-class, Liverpool, memories, childhood, adulthood, family, wedding, abusive father, emotional, powerful, unique, period drama, beautifully composed, invigorating, peak form, formal technique, theatrically controlled tableaux, vividly present, alive, unfailing eye for place, décor, costume, gesture, tangles of memories, evoke joys and horrors, shocking beauty, unforgettable amalgam of humor and heartbreak, saddest part, masterpiece, British identity, deeply artistic composition, enduring compassion, hard viewing, great acting, switches between childhood and adulthood, bracingly original
Worldwide gross: $771,745
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,880,567
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,433
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 205,078
US/Canada gross: $693,563
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,690,055
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,081
US/Canada opening weekend: $10,021
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $24,419
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,441
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Pete Postlethwaite – Father
Angela Walsh – Eileen
Dean Williams – Tony
Lorraine Ashbourne – Maisie
Debi Jones – Micky
Director(s)
Terence Davies
Writer(s)
Terence Davies
Producer(s)
Jennifer Howarth, Colin MacCabe
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
11 wins & 7 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (40) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (8)
For all the formal technique and the theatrically controlled tableaux, the drama is vividly present and alive.
August 30, 2018 | Rating: 5/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Enthralling…
August 28, 2018
Danny King
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
With an unfailing eye for place, décor, costume, and gesture, the director glides his camera through tangles of memories to evoke joys and horrors with a similar sense of wonder.
September 22, 2014
Richard Brody
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
A gripping and original piece of work, itself sure to be remembered as one of the finest films of the year.
June 2, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
Dave Kehr
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Just as you think you have its moves all doped out, a scene of such shocking beauty flashes before you that it takes your breath away.
June 2, 2014
Sheila Benson
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
When a forty-four-year-old man makes a movie about his family and friends sitting around singing old tunes, you certainly don’t expect an unforgettable amalgam of humor and heartbreak. But that is precisely what Terence Davies delivers.
June 2, 2014
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
A terribly beautiful film… [that] makes one at times almost forget the simultaneously banal and and violent lives which the film remembers.
May 20, 2020
Peter Bowen
OutWeek
Strange and stunning for a variety of reasons, Terence Davies created a masterpiece right out of the gate with his 1988 classic Distant Voices, Still Lives.
October 30, 2019 | Rating: 8/10
Gabriel Ricard
Cultured Vultures
The saddest part of Distant Voices/Still Lives is that we come away understanding no more than we did before about the inner workings of this and similar families.
September 7, 2019
Nancy Williamson
Sojourner
Terence Davies’ 1988 debut Distant Voices, Still Lives, newly rereleased by Arrow Academy, deserves to be treasured as one of the great British films.
November 1, 2018
Shawn Glinis
Film Inquiry
Distant Voices contains some of the most beautiful, poetic filmmaking in British cinema.
September 6, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Maximilian Von Thun
CineVue
Even the movie’s “smile though your heart is aching” optimism is depressing. What keeps the movie going is the director’s always distinctive, sometimes arresting style, and the earnest, authentic acting.
June 2, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News…
Plot
The second film in Terence Davies’s autobiographical series (‘Trilogy’, ‘The Long Day Closes’) is an impressionistic view of a working-class family in 1940s and 1950s Liverpool, based on Davies’s own family. The first part, ‘Distant Voices’, opens with grown siblings Eileen (Angela Walsh), Maisie (Lorraine Ashbourne) and Tony (Dean Williams), and their mother (Freda Dowie) arranged in mourning clothes before the photograph of their smiling father (Pete Postlethwaite). Soon after, the family poses in a similar tableau, but for a happier occasion – Eileen’s wedding. While relatives sing at her reception, Eileen hysterically grieves for her dad, and recalls happy times of her youth. Tony and Maisie’s memories, however, are more troubled. Davies intermingles and contrasts scenes like the family peacefully lighting candles in church with the brutal man beating his wife and terrorizing his young children. In ‘Still Lives’, set (and filmed) two years later, the siblings are settled in life, but not all happily. For Eileen, relief from her drab existence comes only when singing at the pub. With his skillfully composed frames and evocative use of music in place of dialogue, Davies creates a lovely, affecting photo album of a troubled family wrestling with the complexity of love.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Pete Postlethwaite delivers a brilliant performance as the physically abusive father in Distant Voices, Still Lives.
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