Customer Reviews

Browning Version [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Albert Finney's portrayal of retiring classics teacher, Andrew Crocker Harris, in "The Browning Version" is a marvelous and understated performance that you will not forget. While I rarely review movies on this site and I cannot fathom why I missed this film when it was released in 1994, I recommend that everyone see it. The title refers to a translation of Aeschylus' Agamemnon; a play that many students will recall from high school. A play that resounds within this story too.

Crocker Harris is mocked and ridiculed by the students as a classics teacher of Latin and Greek. His popularity pales when compared to a physical education teacher who is also departing the school. His position at the prestigious English boarding school is being eliminated for one that emphasizes the study of modern languages. His wife is unfaithful with Matthew Modine's character, an American chemistry teacher. The students often cite Crocker Harris' refrain about grading " You have obtained exactly what you deserve- no less and certainly no more." A line that unfortunately also describes Crocker Harris' teaching career and life.

In line with films like Dead Poets Society and The Emperor's Club, The Browning Version will keep your interest and not disappoint.

Of course, Finney needs no intro- especially with his recent BAFTA. As remakes go, this one is exceptionally good (compared to the 1951 original with Michael Redgrave). Acclaimed director Mike Figgis took an old fashioned setting & brilliantly updated it so that the story occurs in the present. The scenes were beautifully shot too. The key scene where the boy, Taplow gave Andrew Crocker-Harris (Finney) the gift of the book was actually a great improvement compared to the original. Thought provoking, truly 1st class acting & totally enjoyable. Well done Mike Figgis- another excellent example of skillful direction. Praise to Albert Finney too- few films these days carry such a dignified performance.

Albert Finney is the most compelling reason for watching this adaption of Terence Rattigan's stage play. His performance is moving as a classics teacher in a British public school, despised by his pupils and rejected by his unfaithful wife. He plays the role of Andrew Crocker-Harris with real pathos. In particular, the scene in which the young Taplow gives him a book (the Browning version of the title) as a parting gift after he is forced into early retirement, is an incredible moment, the force of which makes Harris' wife's subsequent cruelty all the more hard-hitting. For all his self-confessed flaws, Harris emerges (thanks to Finney, who rarely disappoints) as a genuinely sympathetic character whom the viewer can come to identify with, much as young Taplow came to identify with this tragic character.

I am not familiar with Rattigan's original stage play, so I am not in a place to make comparisons. The 'Figgis version' certainly did it for me. The beautiful location filming, the score, and the excellent supporting cast are all worthy of recommendation. Overall, the film is executed without fanfare or overstatement, relying on an affecting story told persuasively by a superb ensemble of actors.

This movie deserves a just review, if only to debunk the notion that the film bears any resemblance to the 'The Dead Poets Society.' It is a uniquely English work that illustrates what it is to keep a stiff upper lip -- after a fair amount of quivering.

Albert Finney is masterful as Andrew Crocker-Harris, the stern and unyielding teacher of classics who has, rather suddenly, found himself at the end of his career. With modernity regnant in society, Crocker-Harris faces students uninterested in the great literary works of antiquity and a successor who intends to abolish the tenets of a curriculum that once produced the most learned citizens of any nation. Crocker-Harris can clearly see that his time is passing. But unlike 'Dead Poets,' which sends the unacceptable message that suicide offers an exit from seemingly intractable problems, 'The Browning Version' finds its main character clinging to hope in the face of despair. The vehicle by which this occurs is a student's kind gesture.

There are several excellent moments in this film, but perhaps the finest was a scene in which Crocker-Harris -- teaching his final class in the Classics -- attempts to convey depth and feeling in translating Aeshylus' Agamemnon. It's hard not to get caught up in it. For the first time, the staid old teacher conjures up meaning from across the ages in a work that, for the students, is only a dusty tome better kept on a library shelf.

My chief complaint about this film centers on development: it needed more character development and a more studied consideration of the literary content, to which only allusions are given.

As the French would say, 'The Browning Version' is a voir-absolument.

The subject is esoteric, the film is slow yet the performances are outstanding. The decline and fall of a Classic's teacher, as his outward dignity is lost one sees the most passionate expression of dignity on a personal level. Allegorical in some ways but without reading too much into the film, it must be seen by those who understand the personal struggle that the character whom Albert Finney (A great performance)plays undergoes.

Having seen Terrence Rattigan's play performed live several times,as well as having seen the original 1951 film adaptation,director Mike Figgis has scored a real triumph with Greta Scacchi and Albert Finney in the roles of Laura and Andrew Crocker-Harris.The play itself is not IMO the most lively of stories,nor certainly the finest play yet written,but what Scacchi and Finney bring to the table as this terribly ill suited husband and wife is screen magic and their performances alone put this BROWNING VERSION at the very top.Andrew,a professor of Greek at an exclusive English Prep School has been anything but endearing over the years to his students.Obviously his younger and gorgeous wife,Laura,has enough baggage of her own to be a sexual minx with an American faculty member (Matthew Modine,who seems like...well...Matthew Modine-not a memorable performance).It is one student,Taplow (Ben Silverstone),who has been sincerely touched by his crochety professor, who , wise beyond his years,is the key to unlocking the long-ago closed heart of Andrew.But it is the outstanding performances of Finney against Scaachi that really set this film into gear.It is their relationship that director Figgis shows us in such gut-wrenching detail with long,reflective closeups.Figgis has chosen to allow the camera to dwell into the faces and souls of his characters,instead of pushing along the story.This is Figgis' decision and it works magnificently.You will be hard pressed to find a better piece of directing and acting when it comes to expressing the regrets and failures of a mismatched couple.This is a film of regret and resignation,not of a happy ending....hmmmn....like life sometimes,huh?

This remake never gives a clue that it is a remake, as the great Albert Finney, who's make many great films including Night Must Fall, envelopes himself in the character of Hitler of the Lower Fifth. I now see where Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf got it's theme; this is the more realistic version of the Albee play. You can feel the emotions Finney feels as he comes to the end of a failed teaching career and marriage: the subleties of sadness, anger, and ultimate emotional triumph. The film is basically about transcending one's despair with honesty to self and others. A great film all around.

Using a lot of the prep school imagery of Dead Poet's Society, The Browning Version is an outstanding story with a great cast. Albert Finney gives what I would consider an Oscar worthy performance throughout the film, and both Julian Sands and Matthew Modine played complex and interesting supporting roles. My only complaint of the film is that I would like to have seen these two secondary characters developed more. I would actually like to see this story two more times, with each of these two characters playing the main role and seeing the story from their points of view. I would hardly call this a fault of the movie, however. Like a great novel, often what is not included in the story is as important as what is. Although I don't want to draw parallels because the movies are completely different, but I think if you enjoyed Dead Poets, you will like this one.

Albert Finney's Andrew Crocker-Harris is the best acting performance I have ever seen. It is beyond me how anybody could criticize him. No other film I have seen has generated anything like the emotional response that this one did, for which Finney is largely responsible.

If you love Albert Finney, & Gretta Scacchi (as all humans in their right mind should of course), you will enjoy this movie. I saw another person here complaining about Albert Finney's performance, but I think it's wonderful, & he "carries" the film IMO. Gretta Scacchi......well, I would go watch her read the phone book, but this may not be her absolute best film performance--hard to say if that's the direction, or what, but she still does a great job at portraying the gorgeous (adulterous) wife of a repressed English School teacher.

The one "Clinker" here is Matthew Modine, IMO. He doesn't seem to have much range as an actor, & in scenes with Albert Finney & Gretta Scacchi, that is even more painfully apparent. Another Plus tho is Michael Gambon (who played LBJ in the HBO movie Path to War), as the Headmaster.

Highly recommended.