To the Lighthouse **** (1983, Rosemary Harris, Michael Gough, Kenneth Branagh, Suzanne Bertish) – Classic Movie Review 13,279

Colin Gregg’s 1983 TV film To the Lighthouse is a superbly acted, beautiful and haunting dramatisation of the 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. Rosemary Harris and Michael Gough star luminously as Mrs and Mr Ramsay.

Colin Gregg’s 1983 TV film To the Lighthouse is a superbly acted, beautiful and haunting dramatisation of the 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The magical novel is shrewdly adapted by Hugh Stoddart in a screenplay that is relatively faithful (at least in spirit).

The cast include Rosemary Harris as Mrs Ramsay, Michael Gough as Mr Ramsay, Kenneth Branagh as Charles Tansley, Suzanne Bertish as Lily Briscoe, Jessie Walker Stewart as Camilla ‘Cam’ Ramsay (aged 7), Lynsey Baxter as Nancy Ramsay, Pippa Guard as Prue Ramsay, T.P. McKenna as Augustus Carmichael, Nicholas Gecks as Paul Rayley, David Parfitt as Andrew Ramsay, and Craig Warnock as Jasper Ramsay (aged 14).

The maternal Mrs Ramsay (Rosemary Harris), her highbrow lecturer husband Mr Ramsay (Michael Gough), their eight children, the spinster Aunt Lily (Suzanne Bertish), an old friend, and a student called Charles Tansley (Kenneth Branagh), spend a summer in their delightful isolated holiday home in Cornwall, England, just before World War One.

The stern, impatient Mr Ramsay (Michael Gough) scolds everybody, while generous but dominant Mrs Ramsay ((Rosemary Harris)) keeps the family together. Aunt Lily (Suzanne Bertish) paints, and the family talk about sailing to the distant lighthouse that overlooks their house, but the trip is always postponed.

Rosemary Harris and Michael Gough are perfect realisations of their characters, giving exquisitely judged performances. But everyone is good, quite excellent.

Yes changes have been made to the novel, which is set in the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Its low plot, high philosophical introspection literary style in the tradition of Marcel Proust and James Joyce must have been quite a challenge to dramatise but Hugh Stoddart is cannily up for it. The mood and atmosphere of the idyllic long and warm Edwardian summer are perfectly and beguilingly conjured up. Of course, it’s the calm before the storm, and the next time they meet at their house the First World War has brought death to the family, and it’s a greatly changed world.

It is produced by Colin Gregg (executive producer), Alan Shallcross and David Wilkinson as an independent production with the BBC.

The BBC provided the crew, equipment and post-production services. Producer David Wilkinson raised his funding from the Prudential Assurance. Colin Gregg Films owned the copyright and world rights.

Was Virginia Woolf thinking of herself when she created beautiful, generous and yet dominant Mrs Ramsay, the independent if incomplete woman artist whose charisma captivates everybody?

Colin Gregg came up with the idea for his previous 1982 film Remembrance following his student experiences at Plymouth Art College. His films also include To the Lighthouse (1983), Lamb (1985), starring Liam Neeson, Hugh O’Conor and Ian Bannen, and We Think the World of You (1988).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,279

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