The Dresser
1983 Directed by Peter Yates
Synopsis
What happens backstage is always true drama. And often pure comedy.
In a touring Shakespearean theater group, a backstage hand - the dresser, is devoted to the brilliant but tyrannical head of the company. He struggles to support the deteriorating star as the company struggles to carry on during the London blitz. The pathos of his backstage efforts rival the pathos in the story of Lear and the Fool that is being presented on-stage, as the situation comes to a crisis.
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Pretty much a two hour version of that old Jon Lovitz "ACTING!" sketch on SNL.
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Peter Yates gets right out of the way, to allow Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney, to rage at the dying of the light. This film has a remarkable tone of slapstick piss-taking of the art of putting on THE show, all of which occurs during an air raid during the Blitz. That show being "King Lear". What they call the greatest of Shakespeare's tragedy, becomes an assault on the thespian Matterhorn, taking more effort to prepare to ascend to the part, than to play it. In the same way that actors' stage make-up looks ridiculous close-up, so do their histrionics. Courtenay outdoes, even the demented Finney/Lear in his hummingbird flittering around the king, or "Sir" as Finney is referred to…
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Pretty much a two hour version of that old Jon Lovitz "ACTING!" sketch on SNL.
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Utterly strong. but...
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"Herr Hitler has made it very difficult for Shakespearean companies." That's one of the many pompous pronouncements by 'Sir' (Albert Finney), the ailing Shakespearean actor who leads a rag-tag company from one small English town to another during World War II, performing one tragedy a night and sometimes forgetting which one he's to do that night. Sir is a real talent onstage, but offstage he switches from egotistical outbursts to childlike impotence with alarming frequency. An early scene has Finney walking through a train station with regal authority and commanding a train to stop with a dramatic flourishing of his umbrella. (The train does.) No wonder that he believes himself to be the center of the universe.
The dresser, Norman…
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Stunning performance by Tom Courtenay
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A wonderful film, darkly funny, brilliantly acted. Albert Finney plays a crazy old guy. Honestly, I don't think he was ever young. He was only 34 when he did Scrooge, playing a crazy old guy. Anywho, he is great!
The film takes place in one day. Albert Finney plays Sir, a career Shakespeare-ian actor who has a few screws loose, either due to age or due to playing Lear 227 times. This day, he is going for number 228, and we get to see him prepare with his dresser, Norman, by his side, holding his hand. Sir is delusional, grouchy, proud, impatient, etc. (you get the idea), and Norman is the only one who knows how to get him ready…
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The costume design and direction looks nice. The acting is decent at best but Tom Courtenay is both a standout and a show stealer. Yes, he comes off as a bit over the top, but I found him believable enough. Besides, if he was over the top, Albert Finney is even worse. He nearly took me out of the film. He was way too over the top and I could'nt take him nor his character seriously, therefore I could'nt get into the story. That fact that his snarling, spitting, frenzied, and ridiculous performance was praised as one of the best of the decade/all time is just another instance of hammy acting being confused with greatness. More flaws lie in the fact this film was too melodramatic and many characters feel irrelevent and underdeveloped.
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You can't help but love a movie that you come away from wanting to find a nearby theater with a Shakespeare play being performed.
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heartbreakingly brilliant the way the best 80s dramas were.