The Dresser
THE DRESSERÂ (PG)
D: Peter Yates
Columbia/Goldcrest (Peter Yates)
UK 🇬🇧 1983
118 mins
Drama
W: Ronald Harwood [based on his
play]
DP: Kelvin Pike
Ed: Ray Lovejoy
Mus: James Horner
PD: Stephen Grimes
Albert Finney (Sir), Tom
Courtenay (Norman), Edward Fox (Oxenby), Zena Walker (Her Ladyship), Eileen Atkins (Madge), Michael Gough (Frank Carrington)Â
Adapted from Ronald Harwood's stage play which itself was
based on autobiographical events, The Dresser is a dramatic study of off-stage theatrical events.
Set in Yorkshire during World War II, a theatre act headed by
an ageing, grandiloquent veteran of the stage who is only referred to as Sir, who prepares for a performance for King Lear while battling alcoholism and dementia, assisted by his devoted,
effeminate dresser, Norman.
The film is given its strength by the two excellent leading
performances from Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, the latter reprising the role he played on stage.
The subject matter would probably work best in the theatre,
but as a film adaptation, it's a fine piece of work with allegorical references to several Shakespearian works. It won't be appreciated by everyone however, as it's much more an actor's film than
an audiences.
7/10
