Wit (film)

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Wit
Directed by	Mike Nichols
Produced by	Simon Bosanquet
Written by	Margaret Edson (play) Emma Thompson Mike Nichols
Music by	Henryk Górecki Dmitri Shostakovich Arvo Part
Distributed by	HBO Films
Release date(s)	2001
Running time	98 min.
Country	UK / U.S.
Language	English
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IMDb profile

Wit is a 2001 HBO television movie based on the play Wit. The movie stars Emma Thompson as Vivian Bearing, a woman suffering through ovarian cancer and her attempt at keeping a calm position through all the problems she experiences.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Vivian Bearing is a professor of English literature, whose classes are known for their brevity and her intense knowledge of metaphysical poetry, especially the Holy Sonnets of John Donne. Her life takes a turn when she is diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer. Her oncologist, Dr. Harvey Kelekian (Christopher Lloyd), prescribes various chemotherapy treatments to treat her disease. As she suffers through the various side-effects (such as fever, chills, vomiting, and abdominal pain), she attempts to put everything in perspective. The story periodically flashes back to previous moments in her life, including her childhood, her graduate school studies, and her career before her diagnosis. During the course of the film, Vivian constantly looks into the camera to narrate her feelings.

As she grows increasingly ill, she agrees to undergo more tests and experimental treatments, even though she knows that the doctors treating her see her less as someone to save and more as a guinea pig for their treatments. The only person who seems to have any care for Vivian is one of the nurses. The only visitors she receives are her professor (late in her sickness) and her father (in a hallucination). Although she is ultimately consumed by her affliction, towards the end of her life, Vivian realizes that kindness is something she should have exhibited to more people. In her time of greatest need, she learns that human compassion was of more profound importance than intellectual wit.