x The Story : Thompson plays Vivian Bearing, a professor of 17th Century poetry specializing in "the Holy Sonnets of John Donne." The intellect is everything to Vivian--which is why, when she is diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer--"there is no stage five"--she agrees to undergo aggressive chemotherapy in the name of cancer research. "You must be very tough," her doctor tells her, and Vivian is nothing if not tough--a tough professor who is tough on her students. Yet as her treatment--and her cancer--progresses, Vivian finds that what she needs most isn't the cold rationality with which she's lived her whole life and which is amply evidenced by the hospital staff attending her, but the simple human kindness shown by her primary nurse and her former mentor

x Takes on Emma :":Wit is incredibly moving and features what is perhaps Thompson's finest performance ":
----David Nusair @ movie-reviews.colossus.net

" This is perhaps Thompson’s best performance of her career, and those who know her resume will understand that’s no small claim. She’s one of our best actresses working today, so it’s a real treat to see her tackle such weighty subject matter. She handles every scene flawlessly, and it’s impossible not to be torn apart by her character’s agony."
----David Cornelius @ amazing-colossal.com

x Emma on Wit: " "Wit" originally started as a stage play in the US written by Margaret Edson. She's a kindergarten teacher but had worked previously in a cancer unit for three years. She took what she observed there and put it into a play which ended up winning the Pulitzer prize. It's amazing considering she's never written before and is not going to write anymore. After winning every plaudit under the sun she went straight back into teaching. Luckily Maggie liked how the film turned out. When I first read the script I'd just had my baby and I thought, "I can't play a cancer patient, I'm the size of a sofa!" but then decided that I had to try it as it. In my view it's one of the best scripts to have come out of America."
----more @ bbc.co.uk

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