#ClassicFilmReading: Truly, Madly: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and the Romance of the Century by Stephen Galloway
Truly, I did not know what to expect with Truly, Madly, which is the story of the destructive, all-consuming, romantic (??? at one point, perhaps) love story of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. And after reading it, I think my thoughts are still quite jumbled.
At times this biography felt bitchy, like you were hearing the gossip from someone who might've heard the story from someone who was in the room where it happened; but then it turns out they were actually in the house next door, but could hear the yelling and decided to play telephone.
At times it was straight facts, like with the descriptions of the films and plays Vivien and Laurence staged throughout their careers.
At times it felt like a warning, like this is what happens when love consumes you.
And at times it felt like a very sensitive depiction of a woman struggling with mental illness, and how it affected both her and the people around her. For whatever their faults, and Stephen Galloway doesn't sugarcoat anything, he never once reduces Vivien to a person worthy of admonishment for her very sad struggles, nor does he try to lionize Laurence for being a supportive spouse.
Aand maybe not totally supportive in a way you'd expect a modern spouse to be, but still very supportive in his own way? It's hard to explain it, and as someone who has both never struggled on this scale with mental health nor had to care for someone in that situation, I don't want to sound preachy or condescending. It just felt very human, reading those passages, because for whatever their faults, they truly loved each other and Laurence didn't want any harm to come to Vivien. I guess that's my point? Everything he did was under the idea/assumption that he was helping her, not harming her further.
I think I was expecting more of a detailed, all-encompassing biography. We get the cursory chapters on their early lives, but Vivien and Laurence are each born and grow into adulthood and find acting within a chapter each; all of the early traumatic moments of their lives (Vivien being left behind in a girls' school and abandoned by her parents; Laurence's mother dying when he was young and his father being a fanatical preacher who abandoned them) contained within.
Their early acting careers are also crammed into early chapters. Their rises, their coming together, and their affair happen very quickly. Before you know it, Vivien's being cast in Gone With the Wind and Laurence is doing his own thing (namely, being a cad on the sets of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca) and Viven's won an Oscar (despite Laurence basically poisoning her mind into thinking the film would tank and ruin her career), and now the couple are ruminating on what to do about the Second World War.
This section was fascinating to me: I had no idea that they were encouraged to stay in California during the Second World War (both being British) to help with the propaganda that could be made about Britons fighting Hitler; that they were shamed by their compatriots for 'staying away'; that they ultimately decided to go home, despite the risk, and became staunch supporters of the war efforts in their own ways.
It definitely felt like talk of their film/theatre careers slowed down after Gone with the Wind. Hell, Henry V and Hamlet barely rate mentions, and the fact that Laurence won an Oscar for the latter is an aside! A Streetcar Named Desire gets more mention, but mostly for how much Vivien was struggling behind the scenes with her mental health and with coming in as an outsider to a cast that had transferred over from the Broadway play (she replaced Jessica Tandy in the film, but all the other main actors carried over).
After this, the tone of the book switches to Vivien living with the effects of her mental illness and the toll it takes on Laurence. The strain on their marriage is evident, and it's really just sad for both sides. Sad that Vivien can't get the help she needs and sad that Laurence seems to be all alone in caring for her (even though they have a lot of friends who do help out. I don't know how to properly explain the dynamic and I don't want to be insensitive).
Unfortunately, love isn't enough and the couple divorces. But since this is a book about their epic, tragic love story, it kind of peters out after their divorce. Vivien sadly passes away from complications related to tuberculosis and Laurence's third marriage and many health struggles take up brief pages toward the end of the book.
I think I'd recommend this? It's definitely more about the love story shared between Vivien and Laurence than all-encompassing biography of either. I've read other books about Vivien but this was my first about Laurence; it definitely gave me more empathy for him on the personal side (before this the most I knew was that he was an absolute menace to Joan Fontaine on the set of Rebecca because he didn't think she could act and wanted Vivien to play the Second Mrs. De Winters, and that really coloured my perception of him).
If you're looking for a biography that portrays the human side of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, this is the book for you. If you want the glitz and glam of their stardom in Hollywood and their dominance of the stage, I think you might want to go searching for other biographies.
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