Customer Reviews

The Dresser

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

England, 1940, during the blitz: all the young actors are in uniform, hospital, or dead. Albert Finney, playing an aging Shakespearean, carries on as best he can, leading his troupe of women, and men too old or damaged to fight. Actually, he doesn't lead, but rather is daily cajoled into carrying on by his dresser (played by Tom Courtenay). Courtenay is wonderful as the fussy, loyal, oh-so-English man behind the man, maintaining a desperate hold on his good humour even as his life is coming apart in shreds as Finney disintegrates.

It is easy to see that Finney was classically trained, and that his booming stage voice must have rung through many a theater. The snatches of Shakespeare that we do see are great fun, as is the byplay between the old man who can do them in his sleep and even the most humble members of the crew, who by now know all the cues. But mainly this is the story of two men, one an artist who is used to taking what he needs from those around him, and the other who gives his life over to that man, and to some idea of carrying on the great work. This is not a happy film, but it is a great one.

England--WWII-- Albert Finney is the aging star of a Shakespearean stage company, and Tom Courtney is his backstage "nancy-boy" dresser, who must somehow deal with the egomaniacal old ham in the early statges of senile dementia or Alzheimer's. The show must go on, despite bombing raids, Finney's collapse, and other difficulties--or must it?

The fop and the falling star share brilliantly-acted interactions that are alternately infuriating and touching. With well-timed direction, a great screenplay, and a sturdy plot, this film won 5 Oscar nominations but --amazingly-- no Oscars.

That doesn't mean this incipient classic should be overlooked. A fine addition to any DVD library, and one that may not "stay in print;" Order THE DRESSER now--you won't be disappointed!

An acting tour-de-force! Ok, sounds like an ad-blurb, but it's true. A beautifully scripted and acted film. Adapted from a stageplay,taking place mostly in a theatre, The Dresser somehow manages, at least to my mind, not to seem like a stageplay at all. This film should be compulsory viewing for any acting student. As far as the complaints that Finney chews the scenery a bit, ummmmm, how do I put this...he's playing an, aging, egotistical scene-chewing actor! That could be why. Yeeesh. Highly recommended to any fan of great acting. "I'd like a nice, cup of tea with my coffee...."

This movie is a very good movie with great performances by the two lead actors whom were nominated for academy awards.

When I watched this movie in theaters when it was initially released during 1983 I was just thirty years old. I just did not get it. Sure, I could appreciate the splendid acting and dialogue...but the range of human emotions was beyond my range. I had to mature. I had to become a caretaker for a loved one. I had to experience the death of my twin sister who chose to live a life in the theater. I had to become emotionally intimate with another. Then, and only then, did I get it. And WOW is this film powerful.

On one level, it is a film, possibly the best film about the meaning of theater. An aging and once great Shakespearean actor is reduced to playing second rate venues in the provinces when all the good actors are off to war against the Nazis. The year is 1940...the fate of the war is uncertain. Theaters and homes are being bombed. And yet, "Sir" the lead actor continues on playing the major roles of the Shakespeare plays...having never missed giving a performance.

He is now exhausted, physically and emotionally. He is seriously ill..near senilty. And yet - like the soldiers faced with another dreary, impossible day...he goes on. But it is all made possible now by his dresser, his confidante, his caretaker, his friend, and most importantly, his intimate.

And more than anything else, this is a film about intimacy. It is quite clear that Norman (brilliantly played by Tom Courtenay) has a homosexual crush on his 'Sir." But more than that, they really are a pair, feeding and working off each other...Sir is an outstanding actor because his dresser has the skill, reverance, and love to make it happen. In a sense they perform - together.

When "Sir" dies at the end, and Norman opens up a cascade of emotions on seeing his friend -quietly dead, his life purpose - coldly dead, this movie gives the most amazing dramatization of grief I have EVER seen on the screen.

So...see this when you are 20...40...and 60...and you will experience different parts of the film in different ways. You will understand the pure genius behind this drama and respect the splendid acting that makes the catharsis all possible.

There's a very peculiar review here by one Eric A. Daily, who thinks that the eponymous Dresser is played by John Hurt. Oh no he isn't. It's Tom Courtenay, in one of his most affecting performances. I saw Courtenay play this on the London Stage nearly 30 years ago; unforgettable. By the time I saw the play, Finney had left the cast and "Sir" was played superbly by Freddie Jones, a sometimes underrated, undervalued actor who still is working on UK TV, although now in his eighties; we should be so spry. But this film boasts Albert Finney, and in him and Tom Courtenay you have two of the British theatre's -indeed the World's- greatest living actors.

As the playwright Ronald Harwood has repeatedly said, the play (and film) are based on his own experiences dressing the great, legendary, barnstorming actor Donald Wolfit, who made relatively few film appearances but whose voice was powerful enough to rattle the front-of-house chandeliers. So this is a loving and poignant elegy to a particular era and a particular style of acting that both have passsed from view. This is neither good nor bad, it's just the way things are; cyclical and ever-renewing, because tastes change and interpretations of the classic texts shift from generation to generation. However... experience tells me that when some of today's British theatrical Knights are booming their way through Shakespeare and Chekhov, the backstage corridors at the National Theatre may yet echo with passions and tensions and the creak of over-stretched egos that would sound very familiar to Sir Donald Wolfit's still-growling spectre.

I was hoping someone would notice that the relationship between "Sir" and the Dresser parallels the relationship between Lear and his Fool. This is a wonderful story, very funny and sad in its own right.

Acting at its finest! When Al Pacino was asked about an actor's life his advice was 'see The Dresser'. So my advice to all is 'see The Dresser - you won't be disappointed'.

I have always loved the theater and actors. The Dresser pays great homage to the noble art of the thespian but also captures the isolating nature of their work.

Finney and Courtenay are both brilliant as the waning star and the has-been confidant. Their relationship is one of the most poignant ever written. Courtenay's character is a passionate study of both desperation and unflagging loyalty.

This one is truly a keeper for anyone who loves theater, actors and just good drama.

A stunning performance by Albert Finney. The great Bard,s works are on display here even offstage.( in a sense)

Pillar To Post acting by the rest of the cast and a treat to see Mr. Tom Courtenay on the screen again. Mr. Courtenay has made only a handfull of films it seems and in each one he has really stood out. In this film he is totally and eternally "The Dresser"