Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant drama about drama
Review: I have always loved the theater and actors. The Dresser pays great homage to the noble art of the thespian but also captures the isolating nature of their work.Finney and Courtenay are both brilliant as the waning star and the has-been confidant. Their relationship is one of the most poignant ever written. Courtenay's character is a passionate study of both desperation and unflagging loyalty. This one is truly a keeper for anyone who loves theater, actors and just good drama.
Rating:
Summary: Effusive but highly effective
Review: Intense, Shakespeare-loving types will love this film. One of half a dozen films that moves me to tears every time I see it.
Rating:
Summary: Effusive but highly effective
Review: Intense, Shakespeare-loving types will love this film. One of half a dozen films that moves me to tears every time I see it.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Others have said what a splendid film this is. I will add that it is also a rare thing: a movie that is smart and not a bit didactic. Like much good art, The Dresser tells us more about human nature than the whole vapid enterprise of psychiatry. Imagine how dull these characters -- all of humanity -- would be after drugging and doping by shrinks. Will there be anymore Shakespeares after Prozac? Does psychiatry even allow for as much noncomformity and artistic freedom as does communism? No more moral conflicts, no more tragedy. Just serene banality. The antithesis of this film. The antithesis of life. If you are a devotee of what Thomas Szasz has called "The Therapeutic State," you almost certainly with neither understand nor like the film. [...]
Rating: 
Summary: Probably worked better on stage
Review: Some plays translate well to film, and others don't. Glengarry Glen Ross is an example of one that translates beautifully. The Dresser is certainly an interesting film; Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay deliver strong performances, (although they both are over the top) and one does feel the atmosphere of World War II England, but this story simply works better on stage.
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