Surprised by Oxford
Oct. 14th, 2022 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerConfession time: I couldn’t resist Surprised by Oxford because the premise promised lots and lots of beautiful shots of Oxford, and in this respect the movie absolutely did not disappoint. In the post-screening Q&A (attended by the director, two producers, the lead actress, and the woman who wrote the memoir on which the film is based), one of the producers commented, “It’s hard to get an ugly shot of Oxford,” and he was extremely right.
Otherwise… well, look, I am simultaneously the perfect audience and the worst possible audience for this film. I love Oxford, I love the Inklings, I love C. S. Lewis in particular, and yes, the title is 100% a reference to Lewis’s memoir Surprised by Joy, and yes there is a pivotal moment in this film where Caro’s love interest/intellectual antagonist Kent takes her to a bookstore to dramatically introduce her to that book.
But I’m also not a Christian, and while it’s clearly possible to write a conversion narrative that appeals to non-believers (see above my love for C. S. Lewis, who is continually writing conversion narratives), for me this movie doesn’t quite manage it. The love story and the conversion narrative are too intertwined. Is Caro converting because she loves God, or because she loves Kent? Unclear.
Or, conversely, perhaps the love story and the conversion narrative are not intertwined enough. If Caro and Kent spent less time clanging against Caro’s emotional unavailability and more time having meaty intellectual arguments about the existence of God, there would have been more substance to both their relationship and Caro’s conversion.
Having said all of this - I do admire the movie’s ambition. It’s trying to do so many things, and it might have worked better if it had pulled back and tried to do less, but there is something to be said for being an ambitious mess rather than a small, safe, forgettable success.
Otherwise… well, look, I am simultaneously the perfect audience and the worst possible audience for this film. I love Oxford, I love the Inklings, I love C. S. Lewis in particular, and yes, the title is 100% a reference to Lewis’s memoir Surprised by Joy, and yes there is a pivotal moment in this film where Caro’s love interest/intellectual antagonist Kent takes her to a bookstore to dramatically introduce her to that book.
But I’m also not a Christian, and while it’s clearly possible to write a conversion narrative that appeals to non-believers (see above my love for C. S. Lewis, who is continually writing conversion narratives), for me this movie doesn’t quite manage it. The love story and the conversion narrative are too intertwined. Is Caro converting because she loves God, or because she loves Kent? Unclear.
Or, conversely, perhaps the love story and the conversion narrative are not intertwined enough. If Caro and Kent spent less time clanging against Caro’s emotional unavailability and more time having meaty intellectual arguments about the existence of God, there would have been more substance to both their relationship and Caro’s conversion.
Having said all of this - I do admire the movie’s ambition. It’s trying to do so many things, and it might have worked better if it had pulled back and tried to do less, but there is something to be said for being an ambitious mess rather than a small, safe, forgettable success.
