TELL ME THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE {2000 INTERNATIONAL
EMMY NOMINEE} (TV)
Summary
This documentary concerns poet Wystan Hugh Auden's lifelong obsession with finding the meaning of love. The program opens with footage from Auden's 1973 funeral in Kirschstetlen, Austria. Next, a clip from his 1972 appearance on "The Parkinson Show" is shown. From here, the documentary progresses chronologically, documenting W.H. Auden's love life and his own exploration of it. First, Dr. David Luke details finding one of Auden's unpublished journals in Berlin that listed quite extensively the names of people Auden was in love with. Then, Dr. Katherine Bucknell, editor of "Auden Studies," describes how Auden would draw lines through the names of those people that brought him no closer to discovering what love is. A clip plays of Auden's poem "As I Walked Out One Evening" being read. Next, Thekla Clark, a friend of Auden's, discusses how he never "confused love and romance." The documentary next details Auden's close relationship with his mother, followed by his first romance with Robert Medley. Clips play of Auden's "Letters from Iceland" and "Lullaby" being read. Next, the documentary details the longest "love" of Auden's life, his thirty-five year union with Chester Kallman. A clip plays of "Let the More Loving One be Me," Auden's poem lamenting his perceived place in the relationship with Kallman. Next, the documentary details Auden's brief heterosexual affair with Rhoda Jaffe. A clip shows footage of Auden reading his poem "Talking to Myself" -- about loneliness -- to an audience. The documentary concludes by detailing Auden's death, while his own poem about the death of a poet, "In Memory of W.B. Yeats," is read.
Details
- NETWORK: BBC (United Kingdom)
- DATE: March 26, 2000 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:71162
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: English literature - 20th century; International Collection - United Kingdom; Literary criticism; Poetry; W. H. Auden (Wystan Hugh Auden)
- SERIES RUN: BBC2 (United Kingdom) - TV, 2000
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Roger Thompson … Executive Producer
- Peter Maniura … Executive Producer
- Susanna White … Producer, Director
- Jane Bywater … Associate Producer
- Stephen Fry … Voice
- Libby Crabtree … Voice, Auden's mother
- George Leroy … Voice, The Young Auden
- Auden, Wystan Hugh (See also: Auden, W.H.)
- Katherine Bucknell
- Thekla Clark
- Rhoda Jaffe
- Chester Kallman
- David Luke
- Robert Medley
- Yeats, W.B. (See also: Yeats, William Butler)