Siegfried Sassoon's niece hits out at biopic over misrepresentation of poet's Catholic faith

The niece of Siegfried Sassoon has criticised a new biopic about the poet for its negative portrayal of his Catholic faith.

Sister Jessica Gatty, a Sister of the Assumption, said that Benediction, a movie written and directed by Terence Davies, starring Jack Lowden in the role of Sassoon, was a “serious misrepresentation of the truth”.

She said the film was “admirable in many ways” but said there was “one deep flaw which needs to be exposed”.

“This is that failure and bitterness were not the end of his story, quite the opposite,” said Sister Jessica, who converted from atheism to Catholicism following conversations with Sassoon, who was married to Hester, her aunt.