The Terence Davies Trilogy

Three short films set in Liverpool, brought together. They follow the same person. Robert Tucker. The three parts were made in three separate years with years between them. The first is childhood. A Catholic school, the cane, fear and a violent father. The second is the middle years. Robert is grown; he lives with his mother, works in a factory, and talks to nobody. He knows his sexuality. He carries it as a sin and goes to confess it to a priest. The priest does not know what to say to him. He has a tattoo done. Then he has an operation in hospital. The third is old age and death. Robert is in a care home. His mother has died too. The narrative does not give the three times separately. Each part moves back and forward inside itself and all of it is built as though happening at once. What the narrative is interested in is not a life story but continuity: the trilogy's idea is that this man never moves forward; what happened in childhood is still happening in adulthood. Religion is at the centre and offers no consolation at all. The mother is the one warm point. Robert talks to her and his whole life depends on her. There is very little speech. The narrative runs on faces, sound and music. The images are black and white. The camera stays still for long stretches and scenes are not cut before they end. The choice of music is deliberate. Church hymns and popular songs of the period are used side by side. The three films were made in 1976, 1980 and 1983; the first two with short film funding, the third the same way. Terence Davies always said they came from his own life. The total running time is a little under a hundred minutes. Terry O'Sullivan, Wilfrid Brambell and Sheila Raynor are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes British experimental cinema and autobiographical narrative. Who it is not for: anyone looking for story; the narrative builds no plot and is heavy throughout.