Bookending the bulk of the film that sees Jack Lowden playing Siegfried in his middle ages, Peter Capaldi’s performance as the older Sassoon ties closer to why the film is called Benediction.
Capaldi’s older, embittered Sassoon is the result of such decisions.
Turning his back on old friends and pursuing absolution through his conversion to Roman Catholicism, Terrence Davies’ depiction of Siegfried Sassoon seems to be caught between the life he left behind and the one he’s chosen.
After a certain point in his life, Siegfried Sassoon chose to do what most men in his position were doing: select a woman they could trust in order to marry, have children and live somewhat of a heteronormative life.