REVIEW: Wit & Remembering Mike Nichols

Mike Nichol's is a filmmaker who will go down in history as one of the greats. His work as a film director has been beyond inspiring to me. For 50 years his work in the industry has been pushing boundaries and telling unique stories with some of the most memorable characters of all time. Many know him as the man who brought The Graduate to life. An utterly iconic film that brought Nichols an Academy Award for Best Director. He also won several Tony's over the years for his theatre work on Broadway, winning Best Director 6 times over. He's one of 12 people known to have an EGOT, an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, an illustration of his outstanding achievements in media over the years.

What I truly find remarkable are the films that prominently feature women in film. Over the years Nichols has developed a body of work that reflects strong women, through complex and engaging characters. From Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to Working Girls, to Silkwood, to Closer, to Heartburn. Nichols showed that shattering stereotypes can create remarkable characters that persist in our cultural memory.

With the passing of the legendary Mick Nichols I wanted to explore a film in his repertoire that I had not before seen. Wit is one of only two writing credits on Nichol's IMDb page, for an HBO film he co-wrote with the wonderful Emma Thompson. It's the adaptation of a play by the same title by Margaret Edson.

9/10 - If you cry at the opening of Disney's Up then NEVER watch this. I cried a river. 

In it's most simple form, Wit follows the diagnosis and treatment of a philosophy professor's ovarian cancer.

The majority of the film is composed of monologues by Dr. Vivian Bearing as she reflects upon her treatment, and her life. She shares her love of the English language, and the poetry she spent her life dedicated to teaching. As her treatment progresses her dignity is diminished and the philosophy she recollects learning and teaching takes on new meaning.

Make no mistake, Wit is not a nice film. It's not funny, or sweet, or warm. It's brutally honest and never wavers or offers relief. It's sharply intelligent with a precise and concentrated use of language. It's utterly emotionally draining. And yet this film is also beautiful, inspiring, and touching.

As heart wrenching as it is to watch, Wit is a tremendously honest movie experience. Mike Nichols reigns in the audience with a focused and unflinching view of the raw emotions Vivian feels. I was utterly enraptured by the film. With the lyrical poetry that Vivian spoke, and the way the events were presented as experiences, I simply could not break away from this film. Without question, Emma Thompson does some of the best work of her career. The whole film relies on her ability to convey the exact emotions of the present moment and she does so brilliantly.

Here is a fantastic review by Roger Ebert.

IMDb - Wit (8.2)
Wikipedia - Wit
Rotten Tomatoes - Wit (80%)