Pi@LFF: The Personal History of David Copperfield
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Pi@LFF is a series of reviews made by the Pi Culture team attending the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. Here, Kirese Narinesingh reviews the David Copperfield adaptation that made the Opening Night Gala.
After watching the most recent David Copperfield adaptation, it’s not hard to believe that the same man who directed The Death of Stalin has managed to pull off the impressive feat of nailing down Dickens’ hard-to-reach, dramatically boisterous, comically profound and nuanced style. My adjectives are probably a little exaggerated, but any work of Dickens has exaggeration at its core. It seems that Armando Iannucchi has certainly realized that, too.
Iannucci mentioned during a Q&A that he wanted to evoke London at its prime. The relentless transitions between scenes recreate the energetic fervour of busy London, while conveying a rushed sense of storytelling, which, at times, points out the shaky balance of comedy and tragedy. Copperfield (Dev Patel) invites us into his story with jumpy, fast-paced pivots of direction, inviting us into a narrative of fluctuations. The narrative itself comprises a series of his memoirs, depicting the vivacious characters that permeate his life story.
His life first begins in comfort and luxury, brought up by his mother and their maid, Peggotty (Daisy May Cooper). The tide changes with the onset of his mother’s new marriage to the vile Mr. Murdstone (Darren Boyd), who quickly thrusts David into work at a bottle factory. Soon after, Mrs. Trotwood, rendered by the brilliant Tilda Swinton, facilitates Copperfield’s social ascent as a gentleman. The story goes on and on, inserting dynamic new characters with each new environment.
This is a never-ending film of characters. It’s no wonder David becomes a writer. We see a convergence of different portraits that lead to the making of the artist himself. In fact, all of the personalities eventually congregate into one large spectacular production of a scene, for the confrontation of the villainously irksome Uriah Heep (Ben Whishaw), the film’s antagonist, who schemes and takes over the alcoholic Mr. Wickfield’s (Benedict Wong) business. There is much to say about each character- from the Mr. Micawber (Peter Capaldi) who humorously threatens suicide amidst his financial strains, to the ill-fated James Steerforth (Aneurin Bernard). What the film shows is the artist’s seizing of memory and truth: the fact that Copperfield develops from a boy who falsifies his own name to one who writes, with truthful alacrity, his memoirs, already reminds us of this.
I must disagree with Iannucci, as the film seems to be more of a celebration of Britain in its entirety, rather than London, with its lavish production of the 19th century landscape that’s home to a perfectly chaotic Dickensian world. It’s complete absurdity at times, offers an endless stream of gags and caricature-esque tangents of humor, but the setting is always there to ground the film in reality. It offsets the comic with severe gravity: Steerforth’s drowning at Yarmouth attests to the film’s clear-cut transitions in tone.
This is the point of contention in the film, where we’re meant to assess how effectively the director has attempted to replicate Dickens’ careful balance of satire and emotion. Iannucci has had ample experience with this. Death of Stalin was more serious than comic. The Personal History of David Copperfield is the opposite: the comic surpasses the tragic for much of its run, until the final bite of sentimentality (Steerforth’s death) leaves a permanent mark. Nonetheless, there is glaring optimism that counteracts with the bouts of severity - much like David’s attitudes towards the adventures of his life - in all its exaggerated, topsy-turvy beauty.