Deceptions

Glenn as Albert, Janet as Hubert / Dominic as Uday and his double ...

Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man, so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most posh hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living. 

At first glance, ALBERT NOBBS could seem to be another dry and stuffy period piece (REMAINS OF THE DAY comes to mind), it ends up though being a surprisingly effective and strong character drama focused mainly on Albert, a woman masquerading as a man and actress Glenn Close delves into the role with such complete detail that she truly does disappear - she had already played the role on stage 30 years ago. Ireland in the 19th century is nicely depicted too, at Morrison's Hotel presided over by an almost unrecognisable Pauline Collins - who certainly gets her wish at the end to redecorate!

Albert lives a totally solitary life, keeping his secret to himself, it may seem odd at first seeing Glenn here as a man but we soon get used to her/him and the others treating him as a man (something Streisand did not quite achieve in YENTL). It may be the most powerful, emotional drama about longing for acceptance and love since BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and I found it equally gripping and wanting Albert to achieve what he/she desires - his own tobacco shop and a wife to share it with, after he comes under the influence of the painter hired to paint a room at the hotel and who must share Albert's bed for the night. He, Hubert Page, turns out to be a woman too - and passes as a man quite successfully. Janet McTeer is absolutely mesmerising here. Women it seems had such a raw deal back then that it was preferable to spend one's life as a man rather than be a hotel maid or skivvy in the kitchen. Hubert though has a wife - and befriends the lonely Albert who becomes fascinated by them and dreams that he too could have such a happy domestic life ...
We worry for Albert as we fear he may lose his hoard of money hidden under the floor-boards as he falls prey to the schemes of new handyman Aaron Johnson who is encouraging the rather silly maid Mia Wasikowska to accept Albert's timid advances ... but the story does not pan out as one expects. There is a kind of grace for Albert at the end ..... after the typhoid outbreak and other dramatic turns.

Glenn and Janet

I like Glenn Close a lot and this is her best role since DANGEROUS LIAISONS, or her Patty Hewes on tv (DAMAGES). As it turned out her supposed rival Meryl got the Best Actress for her cartoon Mrs Thatcher - but Glenn is superlative here, as is McTeer and the splendid supporting cast including Pauline Collins and Brendan Gleeson as the kindly doctor, plus Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maria Doyle Kennedy. This is the kind of movie that affects one for hours afterwards as the characters linger and its nice slow pacing slowly draws one in. It is masterly directed by Rodrigo Garcia, and among the script-writers are Glenn and Irish writer John Banville, from a story by Istvan Szabo. We get so used to Glenn and Janet as men that it is a shock to see them in that one scene dressed as women ..... I am glad I saved ALBERT NOBBS till now, and it is a film I shall return to ... watching it is like savouring a good book one does not want to finish.

Also underrated is THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE from 2011, Lee Tamahori's fascinating drama about that man who became the double of Uday Hussein in Iraq .... this also has a fantastic leading double performance by Dominic Cooper as both the insane brute Uday and Latif, the soldier compelled to be his body double.

Baghdad, the playground for the rich and infamous, where anything can be bought - but for a price. This is Uday Hussein's world and with his depraved lust for debauchery and immorality, he helps himself to whatever turns him on. When army lieutenant Latif Yahia is summoned to Saddam's palace, he is faced with an impossible request - to be Uday's double, or have his family condemned to death. In a world entrenched in betrayal and corruption, knowing who to trust becomes a matter of life or death for Latif, as he battles to escape from his forced existence.

The film depicts Iraq at the time of the Gulf War as a world filled with rape, torture, murder, drugs, sex and money as everyone is terrified of the Saddam family and their henchmen. 

Dominic Cooper from THE HISTORY BOYS and fluff like MAMMA MIA! comes into his own here - when he is on screen as both Uday and Latif it is like watching two different people. Latif has to suffer to ensure his impersonation is correct - his teeth and body have to be altered, luckily Uday was joking about altering his penis size! ... and he is soon horrified by the brutality and corruption around him, as Uday's pursuit of women extends to following schoolgirls or taking a newly-married wife at her wedding reception.

Uday though sees his body double as something he owns and wants to keep with him or take his place when he cannot be bothered to appear in public or may be in danger. The film is exciting and tense as Latif tries to escape and keep his family safe. It should have done a lot better, perhaps it was perceived as being downmarket or exploitative? Whatever - it is a gripping drama with a great central pair of performances from Cooper which should have been acknowledged more. With Ludivine Sagnier - it is an exciting intense drama which reflects a lot of the reality of the time and the place.

Persuasion, Persuasion, Persuasion

Away from the Arthouse Classics and Bad Movies We Love and sometimes Utter Trash, we occasionally need a good Costume Drama - and no-one does it better than the BBC or ITV with their Jane Austen adaptations. The recent PERSUASION was an ideal treat after the Royal Wedding, so it was fun to see it again.

I absolutely love Jane Austen's book "Persuasion" and have re-read it several times and no doubt will again. This latest version is quite nice - though Sally Hawkins is a very put-upon dowdy Anne Elliot while Rupert Penry-Jones positively smoulders as Captain Wentworth, and Alice Krige is the meddling Lady Russell. Anne is only 28 after all but is practically an old maid as she missed her chance with the dashing Captain 8 years previously when she was persuaded to give him up as he had no fortune. Now he is back, wealthy and looking for a wife .... we travel from her estate to Bath and Lyme Regis with its famous cobb where that silly Louisa Musgrove famously falls from, as our star-crossed lovers slowly rediscover each other. For me it is a perfect romance. Anne, as Lady Russell knows, is so much better than her frivolous father and bitchy sisters.



The 1971 version is in 4 parts so can take its time and Ann Firbank and Bryan Marshall are quite ideal but looking at it now it has that bright over-lit look of 70s television. The best version for me is the 1995 BBC production where Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds (below) are quietly excellent, it is nicely condensed and is a real film, as directed by Roger Michell, with able support from Corin Redgrave, Fiona Shaw, Phoebe Nicholls and Susan Fleetwood etc. The most recent version also alters the ending with our heroine running all over Bath to catch up with Wentworth - but then Austen wrote two endings both perfect but not very filmable for a romantic climax!

The recent SENSE & SENSIBILITY is also a treat, nice to look at - I love their idea of the cottage the poor Dashwoods have to make do with! Dan Stevens and David Morrissey are ideal romantic leads and it all looks a treat.
Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman and a top-notch cast even in the small parts (Gemma Jones, Elizabth Spriggs, Harriet Walter, Imelda Staunton, Hugh Laurie) all make Ang Lee's 1995 film the definitive version, as scriped by Emma (whose playing of the final scene is a delight).



And of course the only definitive version of PRIDE & PREJUDICE is the BBC's 1995 version, ideally cast too with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, plus of course Alison Steadman and Benjamin Whitrow as the Bennetts and the fearsome Lady Catherine De Burgh of Barbara Leigh-Hunt and the oily Mr Collins of David Bamber, and Susannah Harker and Anna Chancellor. The 2005 film by Joe Wright with Keira Knightley enraged me with it's filleted version of the book, major characters reduced to the sidelines and its period all over the place. THAT version ended up in the trash can! - despite sterling work by Tom Hollander as Mr Collins and Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench. The 1940 film has it's pleasures too though one can hardly take it seriously, Olivier and Garson sparkle though. (A shame though to see Ehle in just the small part of Mrs Logue in Firth's success THE KING'S SPEECH).



The 1999 version of MANSFIELD PARK is also very entertaining with the likes of Sheila Gish, Lindsay Duncan, James Purefoy and Harold Pinter - though Fanny Price is the most priggish, least likeable of Austen's heroines. EMMA and NORTHANGER ABBEY though do not interest me at all! Then of course there are those Merchant-Ivory productions like A ROOM WITH A VIEW, MAURICE, QUARTET, HEAT AND DUST, HOWARD'S END, THE EUROPEANS, THE BOSTONIANS and the great tradition of costume drama continued with CRANFORD and Julian Fellowes' DOWNTON ABBEY, we will be waiting for that second series, let's hope Maggie Smith gets some more great moments. Hmm, maybe it's time to re-visit those '70s hits: Lee Remick as JENNIE Churchill and Francesca Annis as LILLIE Langtry (which also has a sterling Oscar Wilde by Peter Egan)...