Product Details

• Actors: Harry Andrews, Patrick Barlow, Geoffrey Bayldon, Faith Brook, Phyllis Calvert
• Directors: Martyn Friend
• Writers: Peter Buckman, Vita Sackville-West
• Producers: Colin Rogers
• Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: May 30, 2006
• Run Time: 158 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000F4RHC0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,117 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "All Passion Spent" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

The acclaimed BBC adaptation of Vita Sackville-West’s beloved novel starring Dame Wendy Hille.

Dame Wendy Hiller delivers a delicately nuanced performance in Vita Sackville-West’s classic story of emerging feminist identity in post-Victorian England.

"When can one please oneself if not in old age?" asks 85-year-old Lady Slane (Hiller), who frees herself from society’s expectations upon the death of her politically prominent husband. To the shock of her children, who seem more concerned with the disposition of the estate than with their mother’s happiness, the widow retreats to a cottage in the Hampstead countryside to rediscover herself.

Nominated for four BAFTA Awards (including best drama series and best actress), this BBC production brings Sackville-West’s best-known novel to the screen with all its emotional complexity, intellectual vigor, and profound feeling.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

168 of 175 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She considered the lilies of the field, October 26, 2006

By 

bernie "webviator" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Passion Spent (DVD)

Lady Slane (Wendy Hiller) spent all her life being an et ux. She enjoyed being the wife of the viceroy, a mother, and a leader of charities. However when her husband died she finally, against her children's wishes, had time to contemplate her life, what it could have been and what it will be.

She moves into a smaller house that she had seen 30 years before. Now she strikes up a friend ship with people as the house owner, the craftsman repairing the house and others.

Unknown to her is a friend of one of her sons, who knew her 60 years ago in India. He reliving the time and she realizing that they both had great depth that was not required of them at the time, form a unique friendship.

We get the privilege of watching Lady Slane make her discoveries and the reaction to this by the family. Of particular interest is her great grand daughter is now on the cusp of making the same life choice that Lady Slane succumbed to.

Based on the novel by Vita Sackville-West, "All Passion Spent" we see a lot of Vita's real life parallels. The screen adaptation is by Peter Buckman. This film has that BBC quality.

89 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound and a gem of a film, with multiple facets, nuances and eternal sparkle, September 18, 2007

By 

Pamela F. Benbow "Pamela Alexandra" (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Passion Spent (DVD)

Wendy Hiller and Harry Andrews deliver haunting and very, very beautiful performances in this, one of the best films I have ever seen. It is all--every bit of it--utterly charming, provocative, true, beautiful, and brimming with life in every scene.

And the reviews that speak of Vita's feminism, though true, miss entirely the point that this film is as completely relevant socially, emotionally, and spiritually now as it was in Vita's 1930's.

The film is not glitzy, or fast, or loud, but it is one of my few all-time favorite films. Like the rest of them, it seeps into one's soul like wine falling slowing through water, eventually coloring one's whole view of life. You will not be quite the same once you have given yourself the gift of All Passion Spent.

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her memories spread out like a landscape, September 3, 2008

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Passion Spent (DVD)

This film is a three-part BBC special based on Vita Sackville-West's tale of the state of femininity in post-Victorian England.

We open with the death of Lady Slane's (Hiller) husband, a former viceroy of India. We see more from the aged children than the recent widow. And what we see of the children isn't pretty. Most of them are more worried about the money than their Mum, who they deem impractical and very amenable to do what they want with her.

Turns out, she isn't. Lady Slane decides to take a cottage in the Hampsteads, a home she'd seen thirty years prior that turns out to still be available for rent.

Instead of the society the family expects her to keep, she has tea mostly with the landlord and handyman. The only family member who visits often is great-granddaughter Deborah (Snowden) who is about to wed a Duke and isn't particularly happy about the situation.

It's fascinating to watch how these two generations of the family evolve and change as they have decisions to make about their lives and futures. The story's lovely and strongly emotional. Dame Wendy Hiller is an amazing actress and a beautiful woman herself.

On a personal note, it reminds me of what a treasure it was to have known my own great-grandmother. I miss her every day.

Rebecca Kyle, August 2008