by Mark Deming
synopsis
Mike Nichols directs Emma Thompson in this made-for-cable adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Margaret Edson. Thompson plays Vivian Bearing, a college professor who teaches a course on English poetry. Vivian learns that she has advanced ovarian cancer and only a short time to live, which gives her a sudden and dramatic insight into the importance of kindness and compassion. Wit also features Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, and Jonathan Woodward as Dr. Jason Posner, a former student of Vivian's who helps treat her.
characteristics
- High Artistic Quality
- Battling Illness
- Cancer
- Incurable-disease
- Compassion
- Terminal-illness
- Professor
- Doctors And Patients
- In A Minor Key
- Chemotherapy
- Teachers And Students
- Medical-research
