Terence Davies

Directing

Terence Davies

Born — Died

1945-11-10 — 2023-10-07

Place of birth

Liverpool, England, UK

Known for

Directing

Credits

47 titles

Terence Davies (10 November 1945 — 7 October 2023) was an English writer-director and former novelist. As a filmmaker, Davies is noted for his recurring themes of emotional (and sometimes physical) endurance, the influence of memory on everyday life and the potentially crippling effects of dogmatic religiosity on the emotional life of individuals and societies. Stylistically, Davies' works are notable for their symmetrical compositions, "symphonic" structure and measured pace.

Known for

The South Bank Show poster
5.6

The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.

The South Bank Show

1978

No artwork available
5.1

The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.

Film '72

1971

Legends poster
5.0

The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.

Legends

2006

Survivors poster
7.9

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an accidentally released plague – referred to as "The Death" – that kills nearly the entire human population of the planet.

Survivors

1975

Benediction poster
6.1

Poet Siegfried Sassoon survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War and was decorated for his bravery, but became a vocal critic of the government's continuation of the war when he returned from service. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London's literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality.

Benediction

2021

The Story of Film: An Odyssey poster
7.7

A worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and the story of international cinema through the history of cinematic innovation.

The Story of Film: An Odyssey

2011

Film credits

2020s · 4 titles

Series credits

The South Bank Show poster
5.6

The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.

The South Bank Show

1978

No artwork available
5.1

The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.

Film '72

1971

Legends poster
5.0

The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.

Legends

2006

Survivors poster
7.9

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an accidentally released plague – referred to as "The Death" – that kills nearly the entire human population of the planet.

Survivors

1975

The Story of Film: An Odyssey poster
7.7

A worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and the story of international cinema through the history of cinematic innovation.

The Story of Film: An Odyssey

2011

Anna Karenina poster
7.0

Anna Karenina was a 1977 BBC television adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel & tragic story of the love affair between Vronsky, a Russian Count and Anna Karenina, a married upper class woman. Nicola Pagett takes the role of Anna, a young woman who is married to a man twenty years her senior (Eric Porter), and who begins a passionate affair with the handsome Count Vronsky (Stuart Wilson). When she falls pregnant, Anna decides to dissolve her marriage and wed Vronsky, but true happiness proves elusive.

Anna Karenina

1977

Reel Britannia poster
8.5

Comedian Nick Helm narrates this bold new documentary series exploring the dramatic history of British cinema. Discover how cinema held a mirror up to society from 1960 through to the 00s.

Reel Britannia

2022

Behind the camera

Benediction poster
6.1

Poet Siegfried Sassoon survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War and was decorated for his bravery, but became a vocal critic of the government's continuation of the war when he returned from service. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London's literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality.

Benediction

2021

Benediction poster
6.1

Poet Siegfried Sassoon survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War and was decorated for his bravery, but became a vocal critic of the government's continuation of the war when he returned from service. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London's literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality.

Benediction

2021

The Deep Blue Sea poster
5.9

The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.

The Deep Blue Sea

2011

The Deep Blue Sea poster
5.9

The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.

The Deep Blue Sea

2011

A Quiet Passion poster
6.0

The story of American poet Emily Dickinson from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive, unrecognized artist.

A Quiet Passion

2016

A Quiet Passion poster
6.0

The story of American poet Emily Dickinson from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive, unrecognized artist.

A Quiet Passion

2016

The House of Mirth poster
6.3

In early 20th century New York City, an impoverished socialite desperately seeks a suitable husband as she gradually finds herself betrayed by her friends and exiled from high society.

The House of Mirth

2000

The House of Mirth poster
6.3

In early 20th century New York City, an impoverished socialite desperately seeks a suitable husband as she gradually finds herself betrayed by her friends and exiled from high society.

The House of Mirth

2000

Sunset Song poster
6.2

The daughter of a Scottish farmer comes of age in the early 1900s.

Sunset Song

2015

Sunset Song poster
6.2

The daughter of a Scottish farmer comes of age in the early 1900s.

Sunset Song

2015

Distant Voices, Still Lives poster
6.9

Siblings Maisie and Tony, along with their mother, gather for their sister Eileen's wedding. It is a joyous occasion, but through flashbacks, it becomes clear that the family was not always happy. Their father was physically abusive to his wife and left the children emotionally traumatized. As a result, the children have grown into unhappy adults, looking for love they didn't receive when they were young.

Distant Voices, Still Lives

1988

Distant Voices, Still Lives poster
6.9

Siblings Maisie and Tony, along with their mother, gather for their sister Eileen's wedding. It is a joyous occasion, but through flashbacks, it becomes clear that the family was not always happy. Their father was physically abusive to his wife and left the children emotionally traumatized. As a result, the children have grown into unhappy adults, looking for love they didn't receive when they were young.

Distant Voices, Still Lives

1988

The Terence Davies Trilogy poster
6.5

In stark black and white, Terence Davies excavates the life of his fictional alter ego, Robert Tucker, in a narrative that slips between childhood, middle age and death, shaping the raw materials of his own life into a rich tapestry of experiences and impressions.

The Terence Davies Trilogy

1983

The Terence Davies Trilogy poster
6.5

In stark black and white, Terence Davies excavates the life of his fictional alter ego, Robert Tucker, in a narrative that slips between childhood, middle age and death, shaping the raw materials of his own life into a rich tapestry of experiences and impressions.

The Terence Davies Trilogy

1983

The Long Day Closes poster
7.2

Bud is a lonely and quiet boy whose moments of solace occur when he sits in rapture at the local cinema, watching towering and iconic figures on the movie screen. The movies give Bud the strength to get through another day as he deals with his oppressive school environment and his burgeoning homosexuality.

The Long Day Closes

1992

The Long Day Closes poster
7.2

Bud is a lonely and quiet boy whose moments of solace occur when he sits in rapture at the local cinema, watching towering and iconic figures on the movie screen. The movies give Bud the strength to get through another day as he deals with his oppressive school environment and his burgeoning homosexuality.

The Long Day Closes

1992

The Neon Bible poster
6.1

During a train ride, a teenager recalls his upbringing in 1940s small-town Georgia and the events that have led to this point.

The Neon Bible

1995

The Neon Bible poster
6.1

During a train ride, a teenager recalls his upbringing in 1940s small-town Georgia and the events that have led to this point.

The Neon Bible

1995

Boogie poster
NR

The story of a coerced sexual encounter, told through a series of close-ups. A newly-discovered student film made by Terence Davies ca 1980, during his time at the National Film and Television School.

Boogie

1980

Passing Time poster
6.2

From the music of Uruguayan composer Florencia Di Concilio, English filmmaker Terence Davies does a cinematic reading of his own poem about his late sister, delivered over a single serene shot of the countryside near his home in Essex. This short film is part of the 2x25 Project of Film Fest Gent and the World Soundtrack Awards. The project commissioned 25 composers to compose a short piece of music, after which 25 filmmakers made short films that are the ultimate symbioses of music and cinematography, fitting completely within the DNA of the festival. The result: 25 exceptional films where the music inspired the form, narrative and texture.

Passing Time

2023

Passing Time poster
6.2

From the music of Uruguayan composer Florencia Di Concilio, English filmmaker Terence Davies does a cinematic reading of his own poem about his late sister, delivered over a single serene shot of the countryside near his home in Essex. This short film is part of the 2x25 Project of Film Fest Gent and the World Soundtrack Awards. The project commissioned 25 composers to compose a short piece of music, after which 25 filmmakers made short films that are the ultimate symbioses of music and cinematography, fitting completely within the DNA of the festival. The result: 25 exceptional films where the music inspired the form, narrative and texture.

Passing Time

2023

No artwork available
NR

An elegy to time and life, condensing Terence Davies' profoundly humane poetics into little more than one minute, enveloping the viewer in an atmosphere of light and (Davies' own) words.

But Why?

2021

No artwork available
NR

An elegy to time and life, condensing Terence Davies' profoundly humane poetics into little more than one minute, enveloping the viewer in an atmosphere of light and (Davies' own) words.

But Why?

2021

Of Time and the City poster
7.1

British director Terence Davies reflects on his birthplace of Liverpool - his memories of growing up there and how it has changed in the years since - in the process meditating on the internal struggles and conflicts that have wracked him throughout his life and the history of England during the second half of the 20th century.

Of Time and the City

2008

Of Time and the City poster
7.1

British director Terence Davies reflects on his birthplace of Liverpool - his memories of growing up there and how it has changed in the years since - in the process meditating on the internal struggles and conflicts that have wracked him throughout his life and the history of England during the second half of the 20th century.

Of Time and the City

2008

Home! Home! poster
10.0

A lyric documentary about home, time, memory and mortality, commissioned by the Centre Pompidou to accompany their retrospective of Terence Davies' work. Davies began to design this film based on his poems, but passed away before it could be realised. The film was produced posthumously according to Davies' instructions.

Home! Home!

2024

Children poster
5.7

Robert Tucker, a young gay man who is almost without affect, sits in various waiting rooms. As he sits, he recalls events from the year of his childhood when his father dies. He's ten or eleven that year, picked on by bullies at the Catholic school he attends. He seems friendless. At home, his mother is quiet, his father is ill and angry. After his father's death, there's a wake, the coffin arrives, the body is removed. The lad grieves, alone.

Children

1976

Children poster
5.7

Robert Tucker, a young gay man who is almost without affect, sits in various waiting rooms. As he sits, he recalls events from the year of his childhood when his father dies. He's ten or eleven that year, picked on by bullies at the Catholic school he attends. He seems friendless. At home, his mother is quiet, his father is ill and angry. After his father's death, there's a wake, the coffin arrives, the body is removed. The lad grieves, alone.

Children

1976

Death and Transfiguration poster
6.1

A British man on his deathbed recalls moments from his life.

Death and Transfiguration

1983

Death and Transfiguration poster
6.1

A British man on his deathbed recalls moments from his life.

Death and Transfiguration

1983

Madonna and Child poster
6.1

A middle-aged British man struggles to reconcile his homosexuality and his Catholic upbringing.

Madonna and Child

1980

Madonna and Child poster
6.1

A middle-aged British man struggles to reconcile his homosexuality and his Catholic upbringing.

Madonna and Child

1980

No artwork available
NR

Christine looks after her ailing mother and toils in a provincial Austrian post office in the years just after the Great War. One afternoon, as she is dozing among the official forms and stamps, a telegraph arrives addressed to her. It is from her rich aunt, who lives in America and writes requesting that Christine join her and her husband in a Swiss Alpine resort. After a dizzying train ride, Christine finds herself at the top of the world, enjoying a life of privilege that she had never imagined. But Christine’s aunt drops her as abruptly as she picked her up, and soon the young woman is back at the provincial post office, consumed with disappointment and bitterness. Then she meets Ferdinand, a wounded but eloquent war veteran who is able to give voice to the disaffection of his generation. Christine’s and Ferdinand’s lives spiral downward, before Ferdinand comes up with a plan which will be either their salvation or their doom.

The Post Office Girl

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