THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD – Review

As the temps show little signs of cooling (and Fall’s less than four weeks away), another way to pass the hours in the “great indoors” (a very familiar locale for the last five months or so) is to scoop up a beloved literary classic, blow the dust off, and dive right in to revisit another faraway time. Or, for those more adventurous folk, head down to the just reopened movie theatres for the latest big-screen adaptation. Yes, this work has inspired countless artists over its 170 plus years’ history. One such writer/filmmaker, who’s been quite the award magnet in televised media over the last couple of decades, has decided to put his “spin” on this classic to both honor the original tome and breathe “new life” into it for today’s movie audiences. That may account for his “addition” to the title (which had been just the main character’s moniker in most editions), THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD.

This “history” actually starts with the adult David (Dev Patel) using a slide projector to take an appreciative theatre audience back to the time of his birth. Recent widow Clara Copperfield (Morfydd Clark) is briefly distracted from excruciating labor by the whirlwind arrival of her dotty aunt Betsey Trotwood (Tilda Swinton), who just as quickly departs upon learning of the infant’s gender (she was counting on a girl). Fortunately, mother and her servant Pegotty (Daisy May Cooper) dote on the infant. Things get much more complicated when Clara marries the humorless Mr. Murdstone (Darren Boyd) who brings along his equally unpleasant sister Jane (Gwendoline Christie). Luckily little David (Ranveer Jaiswal) is taken on a holiday with Pegotty to visit her brother Daniel (Paul Whitehouse) who works the docks with his adopted kids Ham (Anthony Welsh) and sweet Emily (Aimee Kelly). A big plus, they all live in an old beached boat. Life isn’t as fun when David returns home to the teaching and vicious punishments of Murdstone, who promptly sends him off to London to toil as a wine-bottler. Here too, he gets a taste of happy home life when he is sent to live with the poor, but fun Mr. Micawber (Peter Capaldi) and his raucous large clan. It all comes to an end when the Murdochs arrive to inform David (now Patel) of his mother’s passing. Distraught with rage he somehow walks to his Aunt Betsey’s estate. She welcomes him and he soon becomes good friends with their distant relative, the eccentric but sensible Mr. Dick (Hugh Laurie). But he must continue his education, so Betsey enrolls him in a boys prep school run by the tipsy Mr. Wickfield (Benedict Wong) and his good-hearted daughter Agnes (Rosalind Eleazar). There David makes friends with both the rich, cocky Steerforth (Aneurin Barnard), and the school’s strange, self-deprecating custodian Uriah Heep (Ben Whishaw). As David matures he falls in love with Dora (Ms. Clark again), thwarts a financial crime, and pursues his dream of writing a great novel.

As you see, the film follows HAMILTON with its “color-blind” casting, using actors of many different ethnicities and races to interpret the classic roles. With that, we’re treated to a most passionate performance by Patel as the lead. He utilizes his superb comic skills along with a lanky physicality, often recalling the great silent film clowns. And when he falls in love, Patel does a full-on deep dive. Ditto for his “mini-me”, the endearing Jaiswall who behaves as though every place is a new part of “Wonderland”. The rest of Dickens’ classic characters are an actor’s dream, and this extraordinary cast makes them feel fresh and new. Swinton is a zany whirlwind as Betsey, from chasing away the dreaded donkeys from her land (she knocks riders to the ground) to distracting Wickfield away from her well-stocked globe full of booze. She’s got a great “dancing partner’ in the deliciously loopy Laurie who rambles about Charles the First while toting a big cumbersome kite (his work is reminiscent of his many roles on the various incarnation of TV’s “Blackadder”). Perhaps the most endearing Dickens creation may be Micawber who is played with charm to spare by the buoyant Capaldi (the last of the male Who doctors) as a doting dad and lovable rascal always short of cash but towering with heart. On the subject of great comic turns, kudos to Clark who steals so many scenes as the completely daffy Dora (talking through her pup Jip), after pulling on our heartstrings as the loving but doomed Clara. The film’s most subtle but compelling standout might be Whishaw whose bowing manner and Moe Howard hairstyle hide a truly devilishly devious mastermind. Whishaw’s odd demeanor and swirling beady eyes inject an off-kilter menace to even a friendly snack of “heavy” cake.

Oh, the award-winning creative force behind this? None other than Armando Iannucci, who we’ve not seen on the big screen since 2017’s THE DEATH OF STALIN, though he’s been very busy at HBO finishing up the political satire “Veep” and starting up the sci-fi spoof “Avenue 5”. With this adaptation he’s shaken up the story a bit, trimming some characters while fiddling with the plot mechanics in order to bring things to a most satisfying conclusion in just two hours’ time. Aside from starting with a flash-forward Iannucci has incorporated several startling cinematic devices, changing scenes using some CGI trickery, often bulldozing the “fourth wall” to have David address us and his own child- self, and tossing in some narrative bits right from Broadway (at one point the actors’ backdrop is replaced by a projected sequence). As with his past works, Ianucci relies on rapid-fire dialogue (he co-wrote the script with Simon Blackwell) dropping gags with precision accuracy, but he also displays a terrific knack for choreographing wild bits of slapstick chaos, highlighted as Micawber’s home is under siege from creditors, their hands reaching through windows as they literally try to re-take the carpet right under his feet. And all the while he doesn’t short-change the drama and pathos of this man’s “history”. Add a sweeping score from Christopher Willis, dazzling cinematography from Zac Nicholson, plus costumes, art direction, and sets from artists and craftspeople at the “top of their game”, well, you’ve got a story from nearly two centuries ago that feels vibrant and alive, putting you right in the “moment”. THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD is an exceptional cinematic experience.

Three and a Half Out of Four