Disappointing new adaptation of BLITHE SPIRIT. Yet again, another example of this overly safe, neutrally shot, poorly directed style that is so wide spread. The style of shooting rarely uses anything like a real closeup, and in general stays in a weak 2 shot somewhere just above the waist. It is always brightly lit, deeply saturated, and with a deep depth of field. It offers no point of view on the characters or the situation and does nothing to support the actors or the director. But above all, everything must be pretty. What this production needed was someone like Wes Anderson at the helm. His quirky production design is always equally supported by a quirky shooting and cutting style, which in turn supports the quirky performances. His sharp edge would have been a perfect lens through which to project Coward’s sharp dialogue.
[The shooting style] offers no point of view on the characters or the situation and does nothing to support the actors or the director. But above all, everything must be pretty.
I won’t say too much about the adaptation as I haven’t read the original play, but it seems lazy and messy to me. Character motivations are muddy, actors and action jump around to various locations for no reason. The script doesn’t obey it’s own rules about what the ghosts can and can’t do. And the director only makes it worse by failing to emphasize key plot points, or setting things up that never pay off and forcing characters through lightening quick changes that can’t help but feel false. I think it would have been better to just do it like they did PRESENT LAUGHTER, on stage, shot as a broadcast event. Leave the control in the hands of a talented cast.
Speaking of which… Dan Stevens is really the only member of this production that is appropriately cast, and seems to understand the style of the comedy. He is able to combine the manic wit, put-upon neurosis, and physical schtick that the period of the play demands. The actresses playing both the present and former wives are just pale in comparison. The second wife doesn’t have the starch or brashness to really come across as a “mistake” or a usurper, which is what she needs to be if we are to root for love of the first wife. And the first wife isn’t extreme enough to pull off the dichotomy of the “dumb American bimbette actress” with the baby-doll voice, who is actually the savvy writer. Which is what they seem to be aiming for. Sort of a cross between Judy Holiday and Marilyn Monroe. The production wants you to “like” everyone and as a result, I don’t like any of them. This is Noel Coward, people! The comedy comes from polished, refined, stylish people losing their shit. Dan gets it.
[Dan Stevens] is able to combine the manic wit, put-upon neurosis, and physical schtick that the period of the play demands.
Unfortunately when I said that Mr. Stevens was the only appropriately cast actor in the production this extends to dear, wonderful, talented, Dame Dench. I am thrilled to see her on screen, even when she is miscast. And she is here. And it is a mistake that others have made with her before. Such as her Lady Bracknell in the 2002 film adaptation of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Directors or producers seem to assume, simply because she is mature and English that she is now a character actress and she isn’t. She never has been. Age hasn’t changed that. Yes, she has a mercurial quality that allows her to do comedy, but it comes from a base of reality. A character actor has more of the qualities of a clown. Particularly, this spiritualist needs to be a disreputable, seedy, failed vaudevillian who finds herself in over her head. More than a little alcoholic, with a moth eaten fur stole, a bad wig and lots of double takes. Like Aunt Clara from Bewitched or maybe Hermione Gingold in Bell, Book, and Candle. Dame Judy just doesn’t read as second rate.
Skip it. Go with the 1945 Rex Harrison version or watch Kevin Kline in PRESENT LAUGHTER instead.
5.3
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7.1
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7.5
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