Review: The Personal History Of David Copperfield

The Personal History Of David Copperfield - Review by Jyothi Venkatesh

Producer-Director- Armando lannucci

Star Cast- Dev Patel,Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi , Benedict Wong,

Aneurin Barnard, Rosalind Eleazar, Ben Whishaw and Morfydd Clark

Genre- Social Drama

Rating- ** (Two Stars)

Dull & Boring!

 The film set in the 1840s, sets out to follow the life and relationships of David Copperfield (Dev Patel).It opens in a packed theatre, where the adult David is giving a reading of his own autobiography, starting with those famous lines: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life. Though Cinematography, editing, score, and set and costuming attention to detail conjure a believably pre-industrial London, in the first half of the film, we see the world through the eyes of a boy ingenu, which lends to the slightly fantastic. However it is very sad that even while condensing a literary work so elaborate in detail and rich in characters to a film of around two hours, some key parts of the plot happen in an abrupt, unemotional and almost mechanical fashion.

Dev Patel as David Copperfield is endlessly charming in the titular role, with his own mannerisms, jumping from one scene to the next handling physical comedy, cheeky impersonations and sly witticisms with equal ease.  Tilda Swinton as his aunt Betsey Trotwood, faces regality and poverty in equal measure and to her credit, she never loses her poise. Hugh Laurie plays Mr Dick, who has dementia but is always endearingly appealing to the core. Peter Capaldi plays Mr Micawber who is constantly down on his luck but is otherwise well-meaning. Ben Wishaw plays Uriah Heep, who initially appears to be a humble, subservient clerk, but has other intentions.

The original appearance of the work was in a serialized form, till it turned into a novel in 1850. Iannucci’s film has the sprawling feel of a serial condensed into two hours, where beloved characters pop up when their time comes, reminding you of the Victorian theatre days of yore.

Dev Patel deserves kudos for daring to take up a white role in spite of being a brown face himself and what’s more infusing his part with versatility and making it stand out apart with his magnetic screen presence. Mr Dick (Lawrie), obsessed with an ill-fated monarch, never quite falls into the convenient category of being soft-in-the-head. The unctuous Uriah Heep (Whishaw) comes adorned with an upturned bowl of hair, and scores in his complex part. Rosalind Eelazar as Agnes Wickfield, who has a secret soft spot for David, leaves a big impact of his own in his character with effortless ease.

The biggest problem of this film is that in its attempt to be satirical and less serious, it tries too hard to be quirky while leaving out the emotional core of the story and it puts you off as it tends to be dull and boring and too loud for comfort and Iannucci’s radical retelling of Charles Dickens’ revered classic fails to turn out to be equally heartwarming and light hearted