Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)

Post-war working-class Liverpool life is impressionistically evoked in Terence Davies’ two-part film, by turns lyrical, humorous and horrific.

Set in a world before Elvis, a Liverpool before the Beatles, Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory. These companion pieces, shot two years apart on tight budgets with BFI support, evoke his upbringing in Liverpool after the war in a working-class home dominated by the violence of his father, fearsomely played by then newcomer Pete Postlethwaite.

Davies achieves the rare feat of nostalgia without sentimentality, using dynamic lighting, a superb soundtrack and a fragmented structure to construct a distinctive drama suffused with both beauty and horror. From the home to the pub, the cinema to the beach, each locale suggests both charm and stifling limitation in a film that’s as concerned with the operation of memory as with its material setting.

1988 United Kingdom, Federal Republic of Germany
Directed by
Terence Davies
Produced by
Jennifer Howarth
Written by
Terence Davies
Featuring
Freda Dowie, Peter Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh
Running time
84 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Distant Voices, Still Lives

Critics

Dave Calhoun
UK
Lina Chaabane
Tunisia
Saibal Chatterjee
India
Ian Freer
UK
Sonia Genaitay
UK
Michael Hayden
UK
Michael Koresky
USA
Esin Küçüktepepınar
Turkey
Peter Machen
Germany
Andrew Pulver
UK
Alistair Ryder
UK
Andrew Simpson
UK

Directors

David Easteal
Australia
Kyoung-mi Lee
South Korea

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