The Dresser

Rating:
Summary: Mental Illness
Review: 'The Dresser' is an excellent study in how mental illness can be mismanaged and undetected. Apparently Sir has a form of manic depression that went untreated. His mental illness not only was apparently induced by his vulnerable genes, but by the build up of toxins through years of applying paint and varnish makeup to his face.

Rating:
Summary: TOM COURTENAY received a BEST ACTOR Oscar nomination
Review: ...NOT "Supporting Actor" as is incorrectly stated on the DVD box. Reprising the role he created on stage, he holds his own with Finney and is superb (and won a Golden Globe for his efforts). Also watch for the always fine Dame Eileen Atkins as "Madge", the Stage Manager. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: "STOP THAT TRAIN"!
Review: A stunning performance by Albert Finney. The great Bard,s works are on display here even offstage.( in a sense)

Pillar To Post acting by the rest of the cast and a treat to see Mr. Tom Courtenay on the screen again. Mr. Courtenay has made only a handfull of films it seems and in each one he has really stood out. In this film he is totally and eternally "The Dresser"

Rating:
Summary: An excellent title
Review: A well written character study. You will probably have difficulty finding this one at your video store because it is not very popular, so go ahead and buy it while it's available and attractively priced. A current movie which covers similar subject matter very effectively is Gods and Monsters.

Rating:
Summary: The show must go on in spite of co-dependancy and lunacy
Review: Albert Finney is the actor character--a consummate Shakespearean actor who has perhaps played the role of King Lear one or two too many times, and is now in the midst of a mental meltdown prior to this latest curtain going up.

Tom Courtenay is the actor's dresser--a consummate professional who now faces the tackle of piecing back the shards and fragments of his creation--the actor who must go play Lear.

The only thing you need to know are the two main actors: Finney and Courtenay. Both were nominated against each other in the same category of lead actor in the Oscar race. Both were worthy of winning, and perhaps that is precisely why they both lost. They are both powerfully over the top in different ways--Finney being out of control and constantly in a state of dramatizing his backstage life like he is in front of an audience, and Courtenay as his rather prissy, fretting, "keep it together" devoted caretaker of his on-screen partner. The relationship between the two is intensely professional, very confrontational, and very personal. If those all sound contradictory, yes. For these actors to pull this off on so many different levels is amazing to watch. Their vocal battles are superb and highly entertaining. The only reason I can figure out why they lost their nominations are because the roles were both at the same level of campy, showstopping pompousity. They equally shared the screen; it is impossible to figure out who is the true singular leading man in this pair. The film's tightly matched duo makes you ponder the eternal question of who is the true artist--the performer, or the one who prepares the performer to be who he is?

See this excellent piece of cinema; it is truly a feast of great acting. Oh, yeah, director Peter Yates was fabulous in how he didn't bore you with cinema school trickery, and just let the actors steal the show. Yates also was recognized with a nomination for this picture. It is sad this film went home empty handed that year at the Oscar ceremony, but it would be even sadder if you didn't give this little gem a chance. SEE IT!

Rating:
Summary: Go Back to Acting School
Review: Albert Finney was way over the top in this one; forgot one major rule in the arts or anything for that matter--less is more. Could definitely see the engines working--like take a cold shower or something.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: An acting tour-de-force! Ok, sounds like an ad-blurb, but it's true. A beautifully scripted and acted film. Adapted from a stageplay,taking place mostly in a theatre, The Dresser somehow manages, at least to my mind, not to seem like a stageplay at all. This film should be compulsory viewing for any acting student. As far as the complaints that Finney chews the scenery a bit, ummmmm, how do I put this...he's playing an, aging, egotistical scene-chewing actor! That could be why. Yeeesh. Highly recommended to any fan of great acting. "I'd like a nice, cup of tea with my coffee...."

Rating:
Summary: If you like Shakespeare and the English, You'll Love This
Review: England, 1940, during the blitz: all the young actors are in uniform, hospital, or dead. Albert Finney, playing an aging Shakespearean, carries on as best he can, leading his troupe of women, and men too old or damaged to fight. Actually, he doesn't lead, but rather is daily cajoled into carrying on by his dresser (played by Tom Courtenay). Courtenay is wonderful as the fussy, loyal, oh-so-English man behind the man, maintaining a desperate hold on his good humour even as his life is coming apart in shreds as Finney disintegrates.

It is easy to see that Finney was classically trained, and that his booming stage voice must have rung through many a theater. The snatches of Shakespeare that we do see are great fun, as is the byplay between the old man who can do them in his sleep and even the most humble members of the crew, who by now know all the cues. But mainly this is the story of two men, one an artist who is used to taking what he needs from those around him, and the other who gives his life over to that man, and to some idea of carrying on the great work. This is not a happy film, but it is a great one.

Rating:
Summary: If you like Shakespeare and the English, You'll Love This
Review: England, 1940, during the blitz: all the young actors are in uniform, hospital, or dead. Albert Finney, playing an aging Shakespearean, carries on as best he can, leading his troupe of women, and men too old or damaged to fight. Actually, he doesn't lead, but rather is daily cajoled into carrying on by his dresser (played by Tom Courtenay). Courtenay is wonderful as the fussy, loyal, oh-so-English man behind the man, maintaining a desperate hold on his good humour even as his life is coming apart in shreds as Finney disintegrates.

It is easy to see that Finney was classically trained, and that his booming stage voice must have rung through many a theater. The snatches of Shakespeare that we do see are great fun, as is the byplay between the old man who can do them in his sleep and even the most humble members of the crew, who by now know all the cues. But mainly this is the story of two men, one an artist who is used to taking what he needs from those around him, and the other who gives his life over to that man, and to some idea of carrying on the great work. This is not a happy film, but it is a great one.

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.