Bleak House

Details

Published on Saturday, 07 January 2006 23:00

Written by webmistress

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Details

Year of production 2005. Running time: 30 min (14 episodes) / 60 min (1 episode). Directed by Justin Chadwick and Susanna White, screenplay by Andrew Davies based the novel by Charles Dickens. Gillian Anderson plays Lady Dedlock, Denis Lawson plays John Jarndyce, Anna Maxwell Martin plays Esther Summerson, Charlie Brooks plays Jenny, Pauline Collins plays Miss Flite, Burn Gorman plays Mr Guppy, Charles Dance plays Tulkinghorn, Johnny Vegas plays Krook, Patrick Kennedy plays Richard, Alistair McGowan, Timothy West, John Lynch, Anne Reid, Liza Tarbuck, Ian Richardson, Roberta Taylor, Charlie Brooks, Richard Griffiths, Warren Clarke, Matthew Kelly, Catherine Tate, Alun Armstrong, Hugo Speer, Phil Davis and Sheila Hancock. Nat plays Harold Skimpole.

Plot Summary

In its core, "Bleak House" is the story of the untouchable and icily beautiful Lady Dedlock (Gillian Anderson), who tries to cover a dark secret, the ruthless lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn (Charles Dance) who seeks to uncover it and the narrator-heroine Esther Summerson (Anna Maxwell Martin) who's in the centre of events. For those of you who'd like to have the summaries, please use the links listed here:

• Bleak House Ep 1/15
  
• Bleak House Ep 2/15
  
• Bleak House Ep 3/15
  
• Bleak House Ep 4/15
  
• Bleak House Ep 5/15
• Bleak House Ep 6/15
  
• Bleak House Ep 7/15
• Bleak House Ep 8/15
• Bleak House Ep 9/15
• Bleak House Ep 10/15
• Bleak House Ep 11/15
• Bleak House Ep 12/15
• Bleak House Ep 13/15
• Bleak House Ep 14/15
• Bleak House Ep 15/15

General Review

Oh, hell, what can I tell you about this adaptation of "Bleak House"? Let's start like this: For Andrew Davies - usually thought of as the grand master of literary adaptations, including Vanity Fair (1998) - trying to adapt Dickens to the soap TV format was a mixed adventure: "Dickens gives you such strong lines of dialogue and there are all these wonderful, grotesque characters you can really run with," says Davies. "But plot-wise it's a nightmare." So here I go, trying to tell you what to expect from this TV-series.

Skimpole sitting by the piano

You have to keep in mind that Dickens' novels generally are epic feasts of characters and story lines. "Bleak House" features some of the most famous plot twists in literary history, including a case of human spontaneous combustion and an infamous inheritance dispute that is tied up for generations in the dysfunctional English courts, while lawyers consume the assets of the estate.

The cast of supporting characters contains some of Dickens' most famous creations: Smallweed (Phil Davis), the evil moneylender; Bucket (Alun Armstrong), the cool police inspector at the centre of fiction's first-ever whodunit; Harold Skimpole (Nathaniel Parker), the juicy caricature of a 40-year-old man who claims to be a "perfect child" and Little Jo, the young crossing sweeper, whose tragic death almost brought Victorian England to a standstill.

One of Dickens' specialities is caricature. Please understand his approach to caricature like the artist's satirical way of painting a picture. Not too surprisingly, Dickens made sure that all his novels had illustrations in it. Sad to say that this fact's often neglected by modern issues of his novels and books. He had harsh debates with some of his illustrators, because he felt that they failed to portray his characters. This might have been due to a common misunderstanding with Dickens' written caricatures: His ironic portraits are designed to produce amusement but not just that. They can also be an overload of things that bothered him, an exaggeration of real problems in his very own satirical way. Caricature can be pure drollery, or meant to express ones point of view but without being too aggressive or morally. Throughout Dickens' novels, scores upon scores of the minor characters are caricatures. He uses them to lighten up an unbearable situation but he also accuses doubtful behaviour of certain specimens of mankind. One of the most obvious examples in the TV-adaptation of Bleak House is Guppy (Burn Gorman) and his mother.

And here we are. Right in the middle of things. Some things that made this project very hard were:

Problem 1
The mere length of the book, large amounts of characters and the twisted story-line. Solved? Yes. I have to admit that the first 60 minute episode challenged me because of the barrage of characters that were introduced. But no worries, you'll get to know them all. The storyline itself circles around two things: the mystery of Lady Dedlock and the legal dispute over an old inheritance. Dickens would have hated this mutilation of his written universe. But believe me, if he was alive today he wouldn't have known and done it any better than Davies. The story never fails to keep you in your seat, it is funny, it is entertaining, it is gripping and sometimes you are brought to tears by the events. It is NOT the classical literature-being-made into-a-movie thing.

Problem 2
At least half of the characters in the book are caricatures. There's a danger that the adaptation becomes pure comedy or a freak show. Solved? Each character has the chance to display his/her real background, what makes him / her tick. None is purely merely a caricature. All have the ability to make us think: I know this character trait - I know someone who's almost like this man / woman. That's a thing that caricature does. But you also are able to feel with them. Yes, problem solved.

Problem 3
Well, sounds like another classic literature thing from the BBC - why bother making yet another costume drama. Solved? Yes. It is set in Dickens' days, but the hand-held camera, the fast cuts and the simple speed of the narration keeps you on your feet. Not a chance to say that this is boring stuff. It is a highly modern adaptation.

Nat Review

Harold Skimpole, being a close friend of Jarndyce, is a brilliant, vivacious, sentimental, but thoroughly selfish man. Skimpole is a prototype of a modern pluralist, he loves all creation, he is a friend of peace and art. As a matter of fact he is so fond of aesthetics, that he can tolerate anything but intolerance. Nice? Well Skimpole's definition of intolerance would be something that is disturbing his perfect world with problems, ugliness or money related troubles. He hates none, is kind and caring toward all as long as they don't ask for his responsibility in any way. Still sounds like a positive character, yes? Well get to know him better. Let me use Skimpole's very own words: "Go your several ways in peace! Wear red coats, blue coats, lawn sleeves, put pens behind your ears, wear aprons; go after glory, holiness, commerce, trade, any object you prefer; only - let Harold Skimpole live!" Still sounds OK? You'll get to learn that the true translation to these lines is: Nothing really matters but ME.

A revolting specimen of mankind? Nope. Because at first sight Skimpole seems to be, well, a naïve person ("I am a child you know"), but basically none seems to take his recurring debts as a real problem and him too seriously. His debts are being paid for by his friends. He never fails to lose his charm. At first he isn't more than a funny sketch. But you do get bothered by him the more you get to see of his strange attitudes towards real problems. His egomaniac ways when Esther suddenly falls ill are unbearable to observe.

Odd shillings...

"Mr. Skimpole was as agreeable at breakfast, as he had been over-night. There was honey on the table, and it led him into a discourse about Bees. He had no objection to honey, he said (and I should think he had not, for he seemed to like it), but he protested against the overweening assumptions of Bees. He didn't at all see why the busy Bee should be proposed as a model to him; he supposed the Bee liked to make honey, or he wouldn't do it - nobody asked him. It was not necessary for the Bee to make such a merit of his tastes. If every confectioner went buzzing about the world, banging against everything that came in his way, and egotistically calling upon everybody to take notice that he was going to his work and must not be interrupted, the world would be quite an unsupportable place. Then, after all, it was a ridiculous position, to be smoked out of your fortune with brimstone, as soon as you had made it. You would have a very mean opinion of a Manchester man, if he spun cotton for no other purpose. He must say he thought a Drone the embodiment of a pleasanter and wiser idea. The Drone said, unaffectedly, 'You will excuse me; I really cannot attend to the shop! I find myself in a world in which there is so much to see, and so short a time to see it in, that I must take the liberty of looking about me, and begging to be provided for by somebody who doesn't want to look about him.' This appeared to Mr. Skimpole to be the Drone philosophy, and he thought it a very good philosophy - always supposing the Drone to be willing to be on good terms with the Bee; which, so far as he knew, the easy fellow always was, if the consequential creature would only let him, and not be so conceited about his honey!"
Charles Dickens, Bleak House (1852-3) chap. viii.

He turns out to be a villain of a different kind. The longer you observe him, he slowly mutates into a giant grotesque social parasite; a huge tick, a bloodsucker or a tapeworm who loves to listen to Mozart and has a taste for good wine and good manners, yet he doesn't care for his own children. He is like a baby who seemingly has one thing going on in his mind: a relentless search for never ending pleasure.

His skilful and wilful neglect of responsibility shines in all its glory within his last big scene in this adaptation (part fourteen). Esther our heroine, sees through his not-so-naïve deeds and his façade. She is furious about his betrayal of Jo for a bribe. With his back to the wall, in a wee small moment, all his defences come down. What does he do then? Admit that he's able to realize to the fullest what Esther just told him? That he betrayed the trust of his friend and helper Jarndyce. Is that something a self-centred child would understand? How does Harold Skimpole react confronted with an accusation like this? Quite simple: After he realises what's been said, he refuses to even comprehend what she's telling him. Then he senses a "certain something in the atmosphere". Then he's leaving the battlefield with excuses: "Events - People".

This scene is the highlight of Nat's Skimpole. The way he shows us Skimpole's real nature within the blink of an eye is one the best things I have ever seen in Nat's career. He has perfectly embodied this impostor who claims to be a good-natured character. Even more so, Skimpole is the striking caricature of the perpetual despiteful artist. It takes a lot of bravery to take on a role like this. Being an artist himself, he'd probably mock attitudes displayed whenever convenient: irresponsibility, idleness and insolence. Well of course they are not Nat's. Be aware that the general audience bears distorted images of actors, painters, dancers, musicians, singers, writers - in short so-called stars - in mind. Everybody knows the cliché of the worldly innocent artist, the in-crowd and the superficial "darling" culture.

The second bravery is something else. Nat decided to take a break from smarty pants Lynley and other good-looking romantic heroes. This character is so very different from his well-known TV persona. It is important to show that Lynley isn't dominating Nat's abilities as an actor. Nat is able to portray more and quite different characters. Considering that Lynley's been on TV for over 5 years now, it is vital for him to show a different face. Nat's decision to play Skimpole was brave and it was a fantastic choice. Nat made "The Private Life of Samuel Pepys" two years ago. He stressed his ability to play unappealing parts again in "Bleak House". So: Bravo! Encore! Well done! Applause…..

Trivia

Episodes - 15; Speaking roles - 80; Principal cast members - 40; Weeks of shooting - 21; Extras (in total) - 2,000; Extras (in any one scene) - 75; First day of shooting - 7 February, Charles Dickens' birthday.

Status

Bleak House is out on DVD in the UK and the USA.

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