Carrington is a 1995 British biographical film written and directed by Christopher Hampton about the life of the English painter Dora Carrington (1893–1932), who was known simply as "Carrington". The screenplay is based on Lytton Strachey: A Critical Biography, the 1967-68 two-volume biography of writer and critic Lytton Strachey (1880–1932) by Michael Holroyd.

Plot summary

The film, starring Emma Thompson in the title role, focuses on her unusual relationship with the author Lytton Strachey, played by Jonathan Pryce, as well as with other members of the Bloomsbury Group. The film is divided into six chapters.

Cast

Music

The score of the film was composed by Michael Nyman. It was primarily based upon his String Quartet No.3, with which Hampton created a temp track, and wanted as a leitmotif for Lytton Strachey. The score is also based on Schubert's String Quintet in C, D. 956, whose Adagio is played during a scene in the film. However, there is also newly composed material for the film, including "Virgin on the roof," which was incorporated into the String Quartet No. 4, and the theme for Mark Gertler, which is derived from 3 Quartets, which was composed at roughly the same time.

Reception

Critical reception

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes retroactively gave the film an approval rating of 54% based on 26 reviews, and an average rating of 6.2/10. In 2008, British film critic David Thomson opined that Carrington is "the best film about this moment and group [the Bloomsbury Group], in great part because it has the sense to concentrate on a fringe figure". Moreover, in his opinion, it is "Emma Thompson's finest acting in film" and "the best thing Jonathan Pryce has ever done". Six years later Thomson reinforced this by observing that "[Pryce's] superb Lytton Strachey in the little-seen Carrington ... is unmistakably the work of a great actor." A 2010 review of the film in The Guardian summarised the film; "Drawing extensively on its subjects' diaries and letters, Carrington is certainly an accurate historical movie – but not a particularly revealing one." The review graded the movie as A− in historicity and C as entertainment.

Awards