BEFORE: I'm going to count this one as a second Monday film, I did start watching it late on Monday night, and finished it early on Tuesday morning. This is being done so that I'll end up with the right film on Mother's Day, I think. I still have to cut two films between now and then, and I keep going back and forth over which two. I'd like to postpone the two that will fit best into the romance chain next February, only one pair fits better there thematically, and the other seems like it might make the linking a little easier. I only have two days to decide, so I better make the choice quickly.
Albert Finney carries over from "Breakfast of Champions".
THE PLOT: Personal assistant Norman of deteriorating veteran actor Sir struggles to get him through a difficult performance of King Lear.
AFTER: No joke, May is National Mental Health Month in the U.S. (It's also Bicycle Month and Electrical Safety Month, but let's keep the focus on the issue of mental health for now.). I know I joked a couple months ago about programming a "March Madness" chain where the theme was not basketball, but people who had bouts of actual madness. But maybe it's a more appropriate theme now. Already this week I've seen someone fighting amnesia/memory loss, and then there was Dwayne Hoover battling depression and thoughts of suicide. Perhaps I can keep this theme going for a while, since "The Dresser" showcases an aging actor who seems to be battling dementia, among other things. Ah, yes, it also happens to be Older Americans Month, Stroke Awareness Month and Brain Tumor Awareness Month. I've done my part right here in this paragraph to raise awareness.
I've heard good things about this particular film for years, but it's definitely also in that category of "this is a very ARTY British film, so it's probably very boring and stuffy, and probably nothing explodes at any point during the movie". Which felt like a warning signal for a very long time - but TCM ran this last summer and I recorded it, because at this point, why not? And it stayed on my DVR taking up space until I could find a way to link to it, which clearly was not easy. But everything at the proper time. My DVR can hold a lot of movies, but it was getting up over 80% full so I've been working at it during the lockdown, even if that means renting movies on Demand to pair with them on DVDs, and now it's down to under 60% full.
The film, right, the film. I'm a big Albert Finney fan, especially his portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge in "Scrooge", the best one in my opinion. But he was also great in "Big Fish", "Tom Jones" and the original "Murder on the Orient Express". Face it, he's another actor that's great in everything, even when, especially when, he played a doddering cantankerous old fart, essentially his stock in trade. (see also "Skyfall"). So this is classic Finney as an egotistical but fading Shakesperean actor. I've done my share of theater so this feels familiar to me, but at the same time, I wish I knew more about Shakespeare in general and "King Lear" specifically. I've only seen one production of "King Lear", and that was the 1971 movie with Paul Scofield. There was a more recent 2018 version with Anthony Hopkins (who's also in a 2015 remake of "The Dresser") so maybe I'll check those out in the future.
We also see a bit of Sir performing "Othello" before the traveling company moves on to the next city to do "Lear", followed by "Richard III". Sir has a lot of notes and demands concerning his fellow actors' performances in "Othello", but the next time we see him perform, the whole thing goes pretty pear-shaped. He's so mixed up that he prepares for "King Lear" by putting on the Othello blackface make-up! That's the sort of thing that his dresser, Norman, takes care of. He's not just in charge of the wardrobe, he's also sort of a valet plus personal assistant plus fixer, getting Sir out of any local scrapes or dealing with health problems, plus having a flask standing by to get him a drink before, after, or even during the performances. Whatever it takes, so that the show goes on.
Norman also has to know the lines from every play the company does, so he can drill Sir and correct him when he lapses from King Lear into Macbeth. He's the guy behind the guy, and I know that position well myself. The boss is always right, even when he's wrong, especially when he doesn't remember being wrong, or won't admit it, kind of like the President. Added in to all of this is the World War II setting, and the chance that the theater performance could get interrupted by an air raid siren, completely ruining the scene, and throwing an already fragile actor off of his game. But it's interesting to note that theater productions DID continue during WWII, unlike now, when Broadway has been closed indefinitely. The original plan was to re-open Broadway shows June 7, but now, who knows, it all depends on how some other states do after they re-open businesses. Also, a lot can happen in a month, and the news just broke today about monoclonal antibodies, so there could be a workable vaccine in a few months, if they can speed up clinical trials somehow. (I know, most people say a vaccine won't be ready until 2021, but I believe science can find a way to shorten that.)
I know we all need to be safe, but we also need to get back to business and re-start the economy, the trick is finding a way to do both things at once. New York City is playing it very safe and slow right now, which I believe is the right move, but it's also making us agonizingly impatient. I'm willing to go to see a Broadway show while wearing a mask, and also willing to take advantage of deeply discounted tickets if they find most people would still rather stay home. Remember, I won the "Hamilton" lottery in January, and I then set my sights on the ticket giveaway for "The Book of Mormon". If they re-open that in June, I like my chances. But what about Shakespeare in the Park? That's outdoors, it should still proceed this summer, if you ask me. Just have everyone in the audience wear a mask, problem solved. Same goes for New York Comic-Con, a lot of people attend in costume anyway, just make sure everyone's costume includes a mask. You're welcome.
Anyway, back to the film. It's an interesting look at a form of co-dependency in the workplace - the boss can't survive without his assistant, and the assistant would have no job without the boss. So they're sort of stuck together to get through this thing called life, and that also feels familiar to me. Norman has to run a ton of errands, remember all Sir's lines, perform the sound effects backstage for the thunder AND the lightning, cover up Sir's clumsy attempts at sexually harassing the young ingenue, and then suffer Sir's verbal abuse after the performance. It's like that old joke, when he's asked why he doesn't quit such a horrible job, he'd respond, "What? And leave show business?"
Also starring Tom Courtenay (last seen in "Doctor Zhivago"), Edward Fox (last seen in "Johnny English Strikes Again"), Zena Walker, Eileen Atkins (last seen in "Paddington 2"), Michael Gough (last seen in "The Boys From Brazil"), Cathryn Harrison, Betty Marsden, Sheila Reid (last seen in "Othello"), Lockwood West, Donald Eccles, Llewellyn Rees, Guy Manning, Anne Mannion, Kevin Stoney, Ann Way, John Sharp (last seen in "Barry Lyndon"), Kathy Staff, Roger Avon.
RATING: 6 out of 10 curtain calls
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