Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant central performance
Review: Albert Finney is the most compelling reason for watching this adaption of Terence Rattigan's stage play. His performance is moving as a classics teacher in a British public school, despised by his pupils and rejected by his unfaithful wife. He plays the role of Andrew Crocker-Harris with real pathos. In particular, the scene in which the young Taplow gives him a book (the Browning version of the title) as a parting gift after he is forced into early retirement, is an incredible moment, the force of which makes Harris' wife's subsequent cruelty all the more hard-hitting. For all his self-confessed flaws, Harris emerges (thanks to Finney, who rarely disappoints) as a genuinely sympathetic character whom the viewer can come to identify with, much as young Taplow came to identify with this tragic character.I am not familiar with Rattigan's original stage play, so I am not in a place to make comparisons. The 'Figgis version' certainly did it for me. The beautiful location filming, the score, and the excellent supporting cast are all worthy of recommendation. Overall, the film is executed without fanfare or overstatement, relying on an affecting story told persuasively by a superb ensemble of actors.
Rating: 
Summary: the best film I have ever seen
Review: Albert Finney's Andrew Crocker-Harris is the best acting performance I have ever seen. It is beyond me how anybody could criticize him. No other film I have seen has generated anything like the emotional response that this one did, for which Finney is largely responsible.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb Film
Review: Albert Finney's portrayal of retiring classics teacher, Andrew Crocker Harris, in "The Browning Version" is a marvelous and understated performance that you will not forget. While I rarely review movies on this site and I cannot fathom why I missed this film when it was released in 1994, I recommend that everyone see it. The title refers to a translation of Aeschylus' Agamemnon; a play that many students will recall from high school. A play that resounds within this story too. Crocker Harris is mocked and ridiculed by the students as a classics teacher of Latin and Greek. His popularity pales when compared to a physical education teacher who is also departing the school. His position at the prestigious English boarding school is being eliminated for one that emphasizes the study of modern languages. His wife is unfaithful with Matthew Modine's character, an American chemistry teacher. The students often cite Crocker Harris' refrain about grading " You have obtained exactly what you deserve- no less and certainly no more." A line that unfortunately also describes Crocker Harris' teaching career and life. In line with films like Dead Poets Society and The Emperor's Club, The Browning Version will keep your interest and not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: I say--good show!
Review: Fine tear-jerker about English boarding school teacher (Albert Finney) who is unceremoniously dumped because of his stubborn adherence to the classics and academic rigor as opposed to the school cricket spirit...and that's just not cricket, old boy.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly superb movie!
Review: Of course, Finney needs no intro- especially with his recent BAFTA. As remakes go, this one is exceptionally good (compared to the 1951 original with Michael Redgrave). Acclaimed director Mike Figgis took an old fashioned setting & brilliantly updated it so that the story occurs in the present. The scenes were beautifully shot too. The key scene where the boy, Taplow gave Andrew Crocker-Harris (Finney) the gift of the book was actually a great improvement compared to the original. Thought provoking, truly 1st class acting & totally enjoyable. Well done Mike Figgis- another excellent example of skillful direction. Praise to Albert Finney too- few films these days carry such a dignified performance.
Rating: 
Summary: poor version
Review: Terrence Rattigan's play centres on Andrew Crocker-Harris who is resigning as classics professor from an English boy's school, and is structured as an extended farewell. This kind of play requires a great central performance which, in this version, Albert Finney does not give. Granted, Rattigan is no major dramatist and there is little enough opportunity in the text for any actor, but Finney fails to reach the audience. Finney's acting recalls his sober moments in John Huston's Under the Volcano. He looks pasty and the only pleasure to be had is in his mercurial voice and counting the lines in his face. Watching him, one wonders what delicacy Anthony Hopkins would have brought to the role and longs to see Michael Redgrave in the 1951 version, who by all accounts was superb. As Finney's wife, Greta Scacchi is the best reason to see the film. She looks lovely and brings the pathos that Finney lacks to her role. When she visits Matthew Modine, the science teacher at the school who she has been having an affair with, and he rejects her, we see her longing and disappointment. She also has a deliciously nasty moment later when she insults Finney and, in an inspired touch, director Mike Figgis frames her face with exploding fireworks. Modine seems too young for his role and is stiff and unconvincing. It's hard to believe that Scacchi would fall in love with him. As the young boy who Finney has been tutoring and who gives him "the Browning version", Ben Silverstone is sensitive and looks a little like Geraldine Chaplin. In the school shower room, Figgis comes through with another visual masterstroke by framing the boy's shivering wet body with the taunting face of his tormentor. The film manages to shake off Rattigan's stuffiness and make theatrical material cinematic only occasionally. Because of his reliance on Finney, Figgis' direction seems weak at pivotal moments. When the boys are meant to marvel at Finney's Latin performance of Aeschylus, Figgis' camera shoves Finney in our face. When Finney receives the book whose inscription causes him to break down, Figgis never shows us what the boy had written, and in the climactic speech he cuts madly away from Finney to the weeping onlookers. The school itself is as big as a castle, but we only get to see glimpses of it. Of note is Mark Isham's moving music.
Rating:
Summary: Pity for Albert Finney
Review: Thats what I felt about his character Andrew Crocker-Harris. His wife despises him,so does everyone else! Greta Scacchi perfect as his wife. The only person who respects Andrew is a shy boy named Taplow. This beautiful movie reminds me of the Richard Attenborough film "Shadowlands" and I don't know why it does. If you liked that film you will love this.
Rating:
Summary: The most underated film of the decade
Review: The subject is esoteric, the film is slow yet the performances are outstanding. The decline and fall of a Classic's teacher, as his outward dignity is lost one sees the most passionate expression of dignity on a personal level. Allegorical in some ways but without reading too much into the film, it must be seen by those who understand the personal struggle that the character whom Albert Finney (A great performance)plays undergoes.
Rating:
Summary: A Sliver of Hope Shines Among the Ashes of Despair
Review: This movie deserves a just review, if only to debunk the notion that the film bears any resemblance to the 'The Dead Poets Society.' It is a uniquely English work that illustrates what it is to keep a stiff upper lip -- after a fair amount of quivering. Albert Finney is masterful as Andrew Crocker-Harris, the stern and unyielding teacher of classics who has, rather suddenly, found himself at the end of his career. With modernity regnant in society, Crocker-Harris faces students uninterested in the great literary works of antiquity and a successor who intends to abolish the tenets of a curriculum that once produced the most learned citizens of any nation. Crocker-Harris can clearly see that his time is passing. But unlike 'Dead Poets,' which sends the unacceptable message that suicide offers an exit from seemingly intractable problems, 'The Browning Version' finds its main character clinging to hope in the face of despair. The vehicle by which this occurs is a student's kind gesture. There are several excellent moments in this film, but perhaps the finest was a scene in which Crocker-Harris -- teaching his final class in the Classics -- attempts to convey depth and feeling in translating Aeshylus' Agamemnon. It's hard not to get caught up in it. For the first time, the staid old teacher conjures up meaning from across the ages in a work that, for the students, is only a dusty tome better kept on a library shelf. My chief complaint about this film centers on development: it needed more character development and a more studied consideration of the literary content, to which only allusions are given. As the French would say, 'The Browning Version' is a voir-absolument.
Rating:
Summary: A Sliver of Hope Shines Among the Ashes of Despair
Review: This movie deserves a just review, if only to debunk the notion that the film bears any resemblance to the 'The Dead Poets Society.' It is a uniquely English work that illustrates what it is to keep a stiff upper lip -- after a fair amount of quivering. Albert Finney is masterful as Andrew Crocker-Harris, the stern and unyielding teacher of classics who has, rather suddenly, found himself at the end of his career. With modernity regnant in society, Crocker-Harris faces students uninterested in the great literary works of antiquity and a successor who intends to abolish the tenets of a curriculum that once produced the most learned citizens of any nation. Crocker-Harris can clearly see that his time is passing. But unlike 'Dead Poets,' which sends the unacceptable message that suicide offers an exit from seemingly intractable problems, 'The Browning Version' finds its main character clinging to hope in the face of despair. The vehicle by which this occurs is a student's kind gesture. There are several excellent moments in this film, but perhaps the finest was a scene in which Crocker-Harris -- teaching his final class in the Classics -- attempts to convey depth and feeling in translating Aeshylus' Agamemnon. It's hard not to get caught up in it. For the first time, the staid old teacher conjures up meaning from across the ages in a work that, for the students, is only a dusty tome better kept on a library shelf. My chief complaint about this film centers on development: it needed more character development and a more studied consideration of the literary content, to which only allusions are given. As the French would say, 'The Browning Version' is a voir-absolument.
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