The Personal History of David Copperfield, 2019.
Directed by Armando Iannucci.
Starring Dev Patel, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Laurie, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Peter Capaldi, Rosalind Eleazar, and Tilda Swinton.
SYNOPSIS:
A haunting semi-autobiographical tale of a boy who is sent away by his stepfather after his mother dies but manages to triumph over incredible adversities. Set in the 1840s, chronicling the life of its iconic title character as he navigates a chaotic world to find his elusive place within it.
Armando Iannucci boldly takes a sharp left-turn with his third narrative feature, switching-out the pin-sharp political satire of In the Loop and The Death of Stalin for an agreeable adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel David Copperfield.
The result is a film that, while admirably and ambitiously expanding the filmmaker’s skill-set, also feels a tad filed-down compared to Iannucci’s standard hilarious acidity. However, he certainly captures the poignant human agony of Dickens’ source material, and turns in an entertainingly daft comedy-of-manners in the process.
The Personal History of David Copperfield charts the title character’s life and times as an impoverished young boy (played with pep by Jairaj Varsani) growing up in Victorian-era England, suffering through the untimely death of his mother and being sent to a factory to perform back-breaking labour, before eventually arriving at a more charmed – and more complicated – adulthood (with the role taken over by Dev Patel).
Almost immediately upon the film beginning, it becomes clear that this is a different kind of Iannucci joint. Ditching the confined offices and winding interiors of his previous two films for wide-open meadows and beaches, Iannucci is able to indulge in more free-spirited camera coverage, allowing an at-times Malick-esque handheld camera to rove through fields and bathe in the light – beautifully lensed by DP Zac Nicholson no less.
Moreover, the surreal, non-linear approach to tackling David’s life, even interjecting Dev Patel into his younger self’s flashbacks, allows Iannucci to get cute with some clever optical effects which, according to the writer-director himself, were often achieved practically (such as projecting flashbacks onto walls behind the actors).
It all amounts to an apt departure from the formal docu-style of his two previous films, yet with its lack of reliance on distracting CGI or general visual ostentatiousness, feels like an appropriate pivot to support the material. A fittingly flowery, punchy musical score from Christopher Willis doesn’t hurt either.
As a piece of writing, this isn’t Iannucci’s sharpest, funniest or most relevant work, and some may express disappointment with just how inoffensive this adaptation seems at times. But after a mildly awkward – and not in a good way – opening, the pic does shape-up into a charmingly loquacious reworking of Dickens’ novel.
It’s a gentler dialogue mode for Iannucci though, undeniably; his distinctive rat-a-tat back-and-forth is mostly gone, and there’s precious little vulgar language here in what is surely Iannucci’s only vaguely family-friendly film to date. Yet he’s also unafraid to lean into the darkness, be it stopping the film to have a young David be savagely beaten, or nod towards the rampant homelessness of the time.
But in many of the film’s best moments, the funny and the sad collide together, particularly in an early scene where David learns that his mother has not only died but also been buried without his notification. You’ll probably laugh at the execution of the scene, yet feel bad for it.
And while those used to a more aggressively cynical edge from this creator may find the reined-back approach jarring at first, his singular penchant for barbed poetry is held in tact for the most part. This is aided considerably by the efforts of a practically note-perfect ensemble. In a post-screening Q&A, Iannucci remarked that Patel was his first and only choice to play David, and while often called upon to play the straight-man to his co-stars here, is effortlessly likeable in the role.
It’s probably fair to say he’s overshadowed by at least three or four supporting turns, though; Tilda Swinton is a wry hoot as David’s great-aunt Betsey Trotwood, while Hugh Laurie swings for the fences as the interminably dappy – and, yes, mentally ill – Mr. Dick, while Peter Capaldi is perfectly cast as Mr. Micawber, Benedict Wong is having a great time as booze-loving gent Mr. Wickfield, and Ben Whishaw is delightful as the bowl cut-clad swindler Uriah Heep.
At 119 minutes, this isn’t an inordinately lengthy effort, yet the pacing does sag somewhat in act three, exacerbated by a shifting-down of the comedic aspect as Iannucci strives for sentiment – somewhat successfully, but perhaps not enough. It’s a closing commentary on David’s own desire to rewrite his history – a universal human one, if social media feeds the world over are any indication – which delivers the strongest emotional payoff. Some may still find the denouement a slightly lacking final note compared to what the filmmaker has delivered prior, though.
At once Armando Iannucci’s broadest and most stylistically ambitious film, David Copperfield is anchored by its top-notch ensemble cast, even if the biting humour feels somewhat hobbled by the stubbornly accessible approach.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more film rambling.
