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Little Dorrit:Nobodys Fault
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|  | A Dickensian story,a detailed icon on the making of modern England, a piece of life of the true material on which the stones of capitalism were founded, people and their feelings.
Everything is now seen in the distance of time, we can count differences between now and then, and spot constants that are still with us.People were imprisoned for life for their pecuniary debts, while the clever/or/lucky ones were then "investing" their savings in the coffers of the successful--or those who could present themselves in this light--with the same security, then as now...
The imprisoned pauper inherites an unexpected fortune and becomes a "prince", wants to forget and delete the "stigma" of poverty, but the true fortune that always was there for him was his daughter's constant, unfussy devotion and love.
This is an epic story of love--I don't mean the word in the fashion installed in mind by modern cinema, but in the plain and true sense that many people feel it, the love that saves the world and keeps it still a habitable and livable place.
Dorrit is a child born and grown in the prison.With her undoubtable, unconditional, serene and nurturing love, she sustained her father in prison, and after prison, in the trecherous "free" society where he is elevated... She is Good, like Dostoyefsky's prince Mishkin, and she makes her family's and her friends life more livable, with her gift.I love those people, they are real, we know them.God bless England for those pages, those pictures from the past and present, for those enlightening insights! Where are those humanizing qualities now, and why indeed are they not propagated and realised by the popular art any more?--While the intimidating phaenomena of licenced plunder and loot are always with us, in the daily news, even more audaciously and shamelessly than in Dickens's times! This film gave me strenght, it's a hymn to love that keeps the world going round.
| | | | I purchased this adaption of Little Dorrit several years ago on laserdisc and I enjoyed it, but I found that to fully appreciate this film it was necessary to watch it to the end. The point to this film adaption of a Dicken's book was to tell the same story twice but through differing viewpoints. Certainly the story is not as interesting or as gripping as Dickens more widely read novels and the film could have been improved by cutting and picking up the pace, but I believe the director accomplished his goal. The first half of the film is dark and bleak, people are seen suffering a miserable existence and you do have to wade through a rather pessimistic view of life; but in the second half of the film we see a differing view of life. We see the same scenes over again but now we see them through Dorrit's eyes. The world becomes a new place; it is bright and life itself is a joy. In the midst of squalor Dorrit's optimism colors everything new. Little Dorrit seen in the first half is a sad young woman but now she is a young woman full of life. Whatever Dickens is telling you in his novel this film is telling you that life is what you make it. This is how I watched the film. And I enjoyed it.
| | Part two - A satisfactory conclusion | |
| | Part two of this ambitious film is a definite improvement over part one. It develops themes and fills out the plot (as really any second half of a story should), though you could never watch part two without seeing part one. The most jarring thing about this part is the insistence of recreating most of part one scene for scene (only this time through the eyes of Little Dorrit). Perhaps the most notable thing about this film (for me anyway) is that it contains the last lead performance in a film from Alec Guinness (all his subsequent roles, up to his 1996 retirement, were cameos) and he is wonderful in his fourth screen interpretation of a Dickens character. The rest of the cast is also fabulous (including the last screen performance of Joan Greenwood as Mrs Clennam). It has been said before - you will either love this adaption, or hate it.
| | Ambitious Dickens adaption on a low budget | |
| | Made in 1987 and boasting a 200 plus cast and essentaially a 6 hour film in 2 parts, director Christine Edzard's adaption of one of Dickens' least read novels is only partially successful. It is told from the point of view of Arthur Clennam (Dereck Jacobi) who on his return to London becomes interested in the case of William Dorrit, locked in a debtor's prison for 25 years and his daughter, seamstress to Clennam's mother. Despite excellent performances and eye for detail part one is very slow moving and drawn out (and one can't believe that after 3 hours, it is only halfway through the story). One has to wait for part 2 for a satisfactory conclusion to the tale...
| | Little Dorrit, On Video, Is Still A Misbegotten Failure | |
| | I saw this adaptation of Little Dorrit at a local theater when it was first released. It had received such favorable reviews I thought I was in for a treat: Dickens translated to film impeccably. Instead, I found it to be the director's idea of Dorrit, a stale and rancid interpretation. I sat through the first part until intermission and then ran from the cinema, relieved to be in fresh air again.
Little Dorrit is the only one of Dickens' novels I haven't read, but I can imagine the original characters are beautifully imagined and a joy to read. But the movie's counterparts a are either over the top or understated, and the film as a whole is a huge disappointment. Yesterday, I borrowed the video from our local library and gave the picture another chance. This time, I stood it for ten minutes and then gave it the hook, irritated once again by the wretched pauses, Derek Jacobi's unchanging countenance, and the ill-conceived whole. It's still an insufferably long-winded mess, abetted by a muffled soundtrack and unimaginative photography.
For truly delightful BBC video adaptations of Victorian novels, I highly recommend the recent Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend," and Trollope's "The Pallisers" (1974 vintage, but still splendidly acted and totally absorbing.)
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