--- name: "Terence Davies" canonical: "https://film.one/person/terence-davies" fi1m_id: "terence-davies" imdb_id: "nm0203993" tmdb_id: 93911 wikidata_id: "Q773523" roles: ["Director","Writer"] born: "10 November 1945" died: "7 October 2023" reviewed_on_fi1m: 3 average_fi1m_score: 85 average_as: "director" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-10-01T20:16:52.596783+00:00" 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." --- # Terence Davies ## Identity Terence Davies - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/terence-davies - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** terence-davies - **IMDb ID:** nm0203993 - **TMDB ID:** 93911 - **Wikidata ID:** Q773523 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Davies, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q773523, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0203993/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/93911 Director and writer. Born 10 November 1945 in Liverpool, England, UK. Died 7 October 2023. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer - **Born:** 10 November 1945, Liverpool, England, UK - **Died:** 7 October 2023 - **Active:** 1988–2011 - **Average Fi1m score:** 85, as director, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 90 (1), 2000s 82 (1), 2010s 82 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 85 to 79 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 1 of 1 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 2, Documentary 1, Music 1, Romance 1 - **Screen time:** 4 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $2m across 2 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Davies, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q773523, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0203993/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/93911 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Distant Voices, Still Lives*](https://film.one/film/distant-voices-still-lives.md) (90), [*The Deep Blue Sea*](https://film.one/film/the-deep-blue-sea.md) (82) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Terence Davies > Terence Davies makes remembered lives frightening and deeply moving through songs, family gatherings and memories that interrupt one another. We rate him highly, though his carefully arranged scenes can leave individual characters too little room to surprise us. In the pub gatherings of *Distant Voices, Still Lives* (1988), the women sing and Terence Davies gives us time to listen. The songs carry affection, disappointment and jokes without making us forget the violent father whose presence troubles these recollections. We were moved by the women singing together, because they could share feelings that life with him had made difficult to admit. This is a frightening, deeply moving film, and the clearest reason we would recommend Davies to someone who had never seen his work. Diver’s editing jumps between family occasions, leaving us to work out connections that an explanatory conversation might have supplied. A song can acquire a different meaning through its place among the other memories. Davies uses long takes and carefully arranged groups, asking us to look and listen before we know quite how an occasion fits. We may need a moment to catch up, but the feelings are there before the chronology is clear. His early autobiographical shorts began with *Children* (1976), and he returned to his Liverpool childhood in *The Long Day Closes* (1992), with its emphasis on cinema-going. The literary adaptations, including Edith Wharton’s *The House of Mirth* (2000), took him beyond recollections of his own family without abandoning his interest in people living under social restrictions. *Of Time and the City* (2008) returned to Liverpool through archive footage and narration. His final feature, *Benediction* (2021), brought his concern with memory to a biographical portrait of Siegfried Sassoon. The cost of that careful control is visible in *Distant Voices, Still Lives*, where some of the children remain harder to know than the adults. Eileen, Maisie and Tony can seem confined by the arranged groups, and we want an ordinary exchange to continue long enough for one of them to surprise us. Davies sometimes gives a remembered occasion more attention than the individual within it. That is a real limitation, though it does not undo the feeling carried by the singing. Start here, and give the songs the same attention as the conversations. ## Biography Terence Davies was an English screenwriter and film director. He was born on 10 November 1945 in Liverpool and died on 7 October 2023. After leaving school at 16, Davies worked for ten years as a shipping clerk and book-keeper before studying at Coventry Drama School from 1973 to 1975. He later attended the National Film School. His early short films formed The Terence Davies Trilogy (1976–1983). Davies is known for the autobiographical features *Distant Voices, Still Lives* (1988) and *The Long Day Closes* (1992), as well as the literary adaptations *The House of Mirth* (2000), *The Deep Blue Sea* (2011), *Sunset Song* (2015), *A Quiet Passion* (2016) and *Benediction* (2021). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, terencedavies.com, latimes.com.* ## On Fi1m (3) - *The Deep Blue Sea* (2011), Fi1m 82, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-deep-blue-sea.md) - *Of Time and the City* (2008), Fi1m 82, as Self - Narrator (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/of-time-and-the-city.md) - *Distant Voices, Still Lives* (1988), Fi1m 90, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/distant-voices-still-lives.md) ## Complete filmography (21) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Home! Home!* (2024), Writer - *Passing Time* (2023), as Narrator (voice) · Director, Writer - *Benediction* (2021), Director, Writer - *But Why?* (2021), as Narrator (voice) · Director, Writer - *Investigating The Ladykillers* (2020), Actor - *A Quiet Passion* (2016), Director, Writer - *Sunset Song* (2015), Director, Screenplay - *The Deep Blue Sea* (2011), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-deep-blue-sea.md) - *Of Time and the City* (2008), Director, Writer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/of-time-and-the-city.md) - *The House of Mirth* (2000), Director, Screenplay - *The Neon Bible* (1995), Director, Screenplay - *The Long Day Closes* (1992), Director, Writer - *Distant Voices, Still Lives* (1988), Director, Writer — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/distant-voices-still-lives.md) - *The Terence Davies Trilogy* (1983), Director, Writer - *Death and Transfiguration* (1983), Director, Writer - *Madonna and Child* (1980), Director, Writer - *Boogie* (1980), Director - *Anna Karenina* (1977), series, Actor - *Children* (1976), Director, Writer - *Survivors* (1975), series, as Harper - *The Post Office Girl*, Screenplay ## Awards ### Other awards — 2 won, 4 nominated - Best Screenplay Award (San Sebastián Film Festival) 2021: Best Screenplay Award (San Sebastián Film Festival) (won), for *Benediction* - British Film Institute Fellowship 2007: British Film Institute Fellowship (won) - European Film Academy Special Aspect Award for Best Music 1988: European Film Academy Special Aspect Award for Best Music (nominated), for *Distant Voices, Still Lives* - European Film Award for Best Director 1988: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Distant Voices, Still Lives* - European Film Award for Best Film 1988: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Distant Voices, Still Lives* - European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 1988: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (nominated), for *Distant Voices, Still Lives* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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/person/terence-davies