Grief is with you for life

Benedict Cumberbatch is joined by director Dylan Southern to talk loss and its unusual depiction in their film The Thing With Feathers. By Yolanthe Fawehinmi

- Yolanthe Fawehinmi

IF WE all knew when we would die, would it make dealing with death easier? Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t think so.

“Nothing really prepares you for that sense and reality of loss. You can breed an acceptance of impermanence, whether it’s through philosophy or meditation, but you can’t really know what it’s going to feel like when you reach that end date,” says the Bafta and Emmy award-winning actor, 49.

Benedict who is best known for playing the titular detective in BBC’s Sherlock, which was mostly filmed in Cardiff, tackles the subject of death and loss head on in his latest movie, The Thing With Feathers.

The debut feature from director Dylan Southern is based on Max Porter's acclaimed book, Grief Is The Thing With Feathers. It follows a widowed father, simply called Dad (Benedict), who suddenly loses his wife and is left to raise their two young boys, played by Richard and Henry Boxall.

As his life begins to unravel, Dad’s grief takes the form of an unhinged and unwanted house guest, Crow, portrayed by Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets star Eric Lampaert but voiced by Harry Potter actor David Thewlis.

As Crow continues to taunt him from the shadows, things start to spiral out of control for Dad.

“Max's novel is an exceptional piece of prose. It is an extraordinary prism through which to reflect grief - the structure and intimacy of it,” says Benedict, who joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Dr Stephen Strange with films Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.

“The nature of the source material challenges you into imagining it, how it touches on something deeply personal.