Synopsis
James & Lucia traces the final decade of James Joyce’s life, in particular, his many attempts at saving his beloved daughter Lucia from a lifetime of psychiatric incarceration. At first, he denies her mental decline and, instead, explains her eccentric and dangerous behaviour as simply her unique and idiosyncratic artistic personality; then he attempts to save her through forcing her into an unwanted marriage and, finally, despite still being in denial of her mental deterioration he turns to unconventional therapies like sea water injections.
As all this takes place, her career as a dancer, illustrator and artist comes to a sad and untimely end. Amidst this personal family crisis, Joyce's sight is fading, despite numerous operations by the eminent surgeon Alfred Vogt in Zurich, so he struggles to complete his mammoth Finnegans Wake. Throughout James & Lucia, a wide range of characters catch our eye - most notably Samuel Beckett, assistant to Joyce and later the author of Waiting for Godot, but we also meet Carl Gustav Jung, one of the giants of modern psychiatry, as well as legendary opera singer John O’Sullivan and American art collector and bohemian, Peggy Guggenheim.