Distant voices, still lives

This is the first feature film of Liverpudlian Terence Davies, obviously autobiographical, dealing with a family named Davies and their lives during the 1940s and 1950s. The film is divided into two parts: “Distant voices” (45 mins) centers on the wedding of Eileen, eldest of the three Davies children, and the funeral of her father, events which spark memories of the past, including the frightening war years when the city was bombed frequently. “Still lives” (39 mins), actually filmed two years after the first part, with the same actors but with a substantially different crew. It’s a seamless continuation of the recollections of their domineering and irrational father, played against music and radio programmes of the period to create an evocative and moving picture of family life in the 1940s.