Celestine-Wit the film

Seeing the film of the play Wit enhances my enjoyment of the play because I was confused while reading and did not understand the just of what the author was trying to say. When watching the film, scenes and characters appeared much differently than I imagined them to be. The film allowed me to appreciate the play for its substance and meaning. Being able to see Vivian Bearing going through the physical pain of her cancer and the emotional change she was starting to feel was heightened and given life. It made me develop a connection with her character unlike the detachment and confusion I felt while reading.

In the film of the play the scene that was most surprising to me or shall I say not the way I interpreted it was the scene when Vivian first learned the word “ soporific”. While reading the play I thought that Mr. Bearing did not want to have the conversation with his daughter, which is why he told her to read. This conclusion came from his response to what makes him soporific. Mr. Bearing response was “Boring conversation after dinner”. As a reader I envisioned Mr. Bearing to be a ruthless father who wanted his daughter to stop bothering him. Once I saw the scene in the film a whole new understanding surfaced. The film presented Mr. Bearing as a caring father who wanted to educate his daughter. He did not make Vivian sound out the word and use it in a sentence to be mean his goal was to teach his daughter not to give up and encourage her to learn new words though they may seem challenging. The love and admiration they had for each other was evident in this scene.

Vivian Bearing constantly had play on words through out the entire play but in the film when she discussed the word “fine” and how people are asking her that after multiple test the impact is noticed. Vivian constantly says she is fine because she wants to avoid making conversation and developing relationships with others. She does not want to be close with Dr. Posner because he was her student and she never was the teacher who was understanding and cared about how she interacted with her students. I think that when she says “ I should have given him an A,” Vivian thinks Dr. Posner would not have viewed her as just research. The way Vivian is being treated is karma for her actions towards her students. In the film the impact Vivian feels from how Susie treats her is noticed because Vivian emotionally changes and realizes that she needed to be more humble and motherly towards her students. Susie was the woman that Vivian needed to be at certain times, which is why she developed a friendship with her. Lastly, after watching the final scene when Dr. Posner calls a Code Blue and Vivian is actually DNR was disappointing because he actually had no remorse on his face for his actions. Dr. Posner was more frustrated that his research could not be complete. It was saddening to see a Doctor care more about research than his patient.