---
title: "Notes on Blindness"
year: 2016
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/notes-on-blindness"
fi1m_id: "notes-on-blindness"
imdb_id: "tt5117222"
tmdb_id: 378441
wikidata_id: "Q24635176"
fi1m_score: 80
critics_score: 72
critics_reviews: 10
published: "2026-10-02T23:31:50.553258+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-02T23:32:03.981768+00:00"
region: "PL"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Notes on Blindness (2016)

Directed by James Spinney, Pete Middleton · 1h 30m · Drama, Documentary

## Identity

Notes on Blindness

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/notes-on-blindness
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** notes-on-blindness
- **IMDb ID:** tt5117222
- **TMDB ID:** 378441
- **Wikidata ID:** Q24635176
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5117222/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/378441, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24635176

**Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 72 from 10 reviews

*In a sentence:* Ninety minutes of a man describing the dark, and the rain scene alone is worth the ticket

> Pete Middleton and James Spinney set John Hull’s cassette diaries of going blind to actors who mouth every word, and the result is tender, strange and precise. It is cushioned a little too comfortably by its music, but the rain alone is worth the evening.

## Synopsis

Birmingham, 1983. John Hull (Daniel Renton Skinner), a university theologian, is losing the last of his sight in the same months that his wife Marilyn (Simone Kirby) is expecting their son Thomas. Unable to read or write, he begins talking into a cassette recorder: the walk to work, the sound of a room he cannot see, the faces of his family beginning to slip from memory. The film takes those real tapes, with the voices of John and Marilyn Hull themselves, and has the actors mouth every word. We see the Hulls’ house with its boxes of cassettes, a librarian (Victoria Wicks) reading to him, John feeling his way through his first blind Christmas, and his parents Madge (Eileen Davies) and Jack (David Hobbs) far away in Australia.

## Review

John Hull was a theologian at the University of Birmingham who went completely blind in 1983 and, because he could no longer write, started talking into a cassette recorder. He kept it up for three years. Pete Middleton and James Spinney have taken those tapes, with Hull’s own voice and his wife Marilyn’s, and built a 90-minute film in which actors mouth the words exactly as they were spoken. It sounds like a stunt. It is the best decision in the film, and the film is one we recommend, with a caveat about how softly it has been upholstered.

Daniel Renton Skinner plays Hull, and the job is harder than it looks. He has to match a dead man’s breathing, his pauses, the small laugh Hull gives when he catches himself being pompous, and he has to do it while his eyes stay still. He manages it so well that within ten minutes we had stopped checking his lips. Simone Kirby’s Marilyn is tired, patient and sharper than her husband expects, and in the few recorded conversations between them you can hear a marriage being renegotiated in real time. Eileen Davies and David Hobbs, as Hull’s parents in Australia, have less to do and do it carefully.

Gerry Floyd shoots the whole thing in a shallow focus that leaves most of the frame unreadable. A lamp, a hand, the edge of a desk; the rest is brown dark. Damien Creagh’s house is full of the right 1983 things, the hulking recorder, the boxed cassettes labelled in Marilyn’s hand, the study that fills up with sound equipment as the books stop being any use. Saffron Cook and Julia Drummond-Haig put Hull in the corduroy and cardigans of a man who has stopped being able to check his own clothes. Julian Quantrill cuts slowly and is not afraid of a black screen with tape hiss running under it, which is where some of the best moments live.

Then there is the rain. Hull describes standing at a door while a shower falls on the garden, and how the sound of it on the path, the lawn, the fence and the roof gives him back the shape of a world he had lost. Middleton and Spinney let the rain do it on screen, moving the camera across each surface as his voice names it. It moved us more than we were prepared for, and we have thought about it every wet afternoon since. There is a quieter passage, earlier, in which Hull admits he can no longer picture his daughter’s face, and Skinner plays it without moving at all. That one we found hard to watch.

The caveat is the music. James Ewers, Spinney and Noah Wood have written a score of soft piano and strings, and it is nearly always there, lying under passages that would have been stronger with nothing but the hiss of the tape. Hull is describing deprivation, and the film keeps handing us a blanket. A handful of dream sequences, and a visit to a faith healer (Jamie Bradley), are also illustrated more fully than they need to be, when the voice had already done the work. Most critics have waved this through; one or two have called it a betrayal of the subject. We would not go that far, but we noticed it, and we noticed it most in the moments the film most wanted us to feel something.

The method has a precedent. Clio Barnard’s [*The Arbor*](https://film.one/film/the-arbor) (2010) had actors lip-synching to interviews about the playwright Andrea Dunbar, and used the gap between voice and body to unsettle. Middleton and Spinney use the same device to comfort, which is a legitimate choice and a less interesting one. Derek Jarman’s *Blue* (1993) gave a film about losing sight a single blue frame for 79 minutes and trusted the audience with it. *Notes on Blindness* trusts us about two-thirds as far.

Hull died in 2015, before the film came out. What he left is a record of a clever man thinking his way through a catastrophe without self-pity, and the film serves it well. Watch it at home with the lights off and the sound turned up, and resist the urge to look at your phone, which is a smaller version of exactly the test Hull was set.

*Fi1m score 80, published 2 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Notes on Blindness worth watching?**

*Notes on Blindness* is worth watching, and we scored it 80. Actors mouth the real cassette diaries John Hull recorded as he went blind in 1983, and the passage in which rain gives him back the shape of his garden moved us more than we expected. The soft piano score cushions too much, so watch it with the lights off and the sound up.

**How long is Notes on Blindness, and what is it rated?**

*Notes on Blindness* runs 1h 30m. It is a drama and documentary film.

**Where can I watch Notes on Blindness in Poland?**

*Notes on Blindness* is not on any streaming or rental service in Poland at the moment. It is available in 2 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How does Notes on Blindness compare to The Arbor?**

*Notes on Blindness* and [*The Arbor*](https://film.one/film/the-arbor) use the same device, actors lip-synching to recorded voices, to opposite ends. Clio Barnard uses the gap between voice and body to unsettle, telling a far darker family history; Middleton and Spinney use it to comfort, which is tender but less interesting. *The Arbor* is the bracing one, *Notes on Blindness* the gentler and more consoling.

**What should I watch after Notes on Blindness?**

After *Notes on Blindness*, try [*The Arbor*](https://film.one/film/the-arbor) (2010, Fi1m 83): Clio Barnard uses the same lip-synch method to far darker ends; a bracing companion. Then [*The Diving Bell and the Butterfly*](https://film.one/film/the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly) (2007, Fi1m 87): A paralysed man’s memoir filmed from inside one eye; fierce, funny, French; and [*Stories We Tell*](https://film.one/film/stories-we-tell) (2012, Fi1m 77): Sarah Polley reconstructs her own family history with staged footage and real voices.

### Reviews we read (10)

- **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (5/5): Kermode finds the film extraordinary, educational and inspirational. He praises how its inventive sound and imagery convey John Hull’s changing experience of blindness. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/03/notes-on-blindness-john-hull-review-mark-kermode)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (85/100, inferred): Walsh finds the film an achingly poignant and powerful portrait of adapting to blindness. She especially praises the Hulls’ taped voices for their honesty and searching curiosity. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-notes-on-blindness-review-20161119-story.html)
- **Radio Times**, Leslie Felperin (4/5): Felperin finds the film richly evocative and thought-provoking, an unusual blend of documentary, drama and essay. She singles out its distinctive use of actors lip-synching to real audio recordings. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-r58pzd/notes-on-blindness/)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (4/5): The review presents the documentary as moving and creatively made. It singles out the audiotapes recorded as an academic’s eyesight failed. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/notes-on-blindness)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, THR Staff (75/100, inferred): The review finds the documentary deeply sensitive and says it reveals blindness as a richer experience than many might assume. It praises the way Hull’s audio diaries and carefully staged reenactments draw viewers into his reflections. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/notes-blindness-948839/)
- **Screen Daily**, Wendy Ide (64/100, inferred): The accessible page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It also conceals what the review singles out for praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/notes-on-blindness-review/5099214.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page is inaccessible, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. No praise or complaint can be reliably identified from the available text. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/movies/notes-on-blindness-review-john-hull.html)
- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (3/5): Jenkins finds the film atmospheric and gently moving, but ultimately too lightweight and lacking a strong hook. He praises Dan Skinner’s subtle performance while criticizing the film for explaining moments that would be stronger if shown. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/notes-on-blindness)
- **Slant Magazine**, Diego Semerene (1.5/4): The critic finds the film’s approach misguided, arguing that it compensates for blindness rather than embracing it. They fault its lush imagery and sentimental music for competing with Hull’s recordings and limiting the audience’s experience of sensory privation. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/notes-on-blindness/)
- **The Ringer**, Kate Knibbs (80/100, inferred): Knibbs finds the documentary and its VR companion effective, recognizing Hull’s humanity rather than inviting pity. She singles out their sensory treatment of sound and rain for making his inner life feel vivid and known. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2016/11/16/movies/notes-on-blindness-into-darkness-documentary-virtual-reality-dc8959275a3c)

## Details

- **Director:** James Spinney, Pete Middleton
- **Director:** James Spinney, Pete Middleton
- **Writer:** Pete Middleton, James Spinney
- **Cinematography:** Gerry Floyd
- **Editor:** Julian Quantrill
- **Music:** Noah Wood, James Ewers, James Spinney
- **Production design:** Damien Creagh
- **Costume design:** Julia Drummond-Haig, Saffron Cook
- **Producer:** James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo Jo Ellison
- **Cast:** John M. Hull as Himself (voice); Marilyn Hull as Herself (voice); Daniel Renton Skinner as John Hull; Simone Kirby as Marilyn Hull; Eileen Davies as Madge Hull; David Hobbs as Jack Hull; Victoria Wicks as Librarian; Jamie Bradley as Faith Healer
- **Runtime:** 1h 30m
- **Release (Poland):** 13 May 2017
- **Genres:** Drama, Documentary

## Where to watch in Poland

Not streaming, renting or buying in Poland at the last check.

Also available in: GB, IE. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- IFFR audience award 2016: IFFR audience award (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Arbor* (2010), Fi1m 83: Clio Barnard uses the same lip-synch method to far darker ends; a bracing companion. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-arbor.md)
- *Blue* (1993): Derek Jarman’s last film, a single blue frame and his voice; blindness without pictures.
- *The Diving Bell and the Butterfly* (2007), Fi1m 87: A paralysed man’s memoir filmed from inside one eye; fierce, funny, French. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly.md)
- *Land of Silence and Darkness* (1971): Herzog follows a deaf-blind woman visiting others like her; patient and unsentimental.
- *Stories We Tell* (2012), Fi1m 77: Sarah Polley reconstructs her own family history with staged footage and real voices. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/stories-we-tell.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/notes-on-blindness