FILM 1 LITTLE DORRIT: NOBODY'S FAULT Movie Review

Little Dorrit is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel. It runs six hours, in two big chunks, and it's all plot. All you need to know of that plot here is that it's about a father and daughter trapped in debtor's prison, and that a great many things happen to them to change the course of their lives. Is it as good as being immersed in the novel? No, but it's hypnotic and beautifully done. The director, Christine Edzard, has created what is clearly a labor of love, if not maniacal dedication, and though she may not have reproduced absolutely every sentence in the novel, you'd never know it. There are said to be more than two hundred speaking parts in the two films—titled Nobody's Fault and Little Dorrit's Story—which form one big overlapping narrative, with the story told from different points of view. Edzard didn't have a huge budget for this project, but she's produced some memorable scenes using dark, close-up images that produce an appropriately claustrophobic effect. The sheer bulk and size of the narrative is capable of producing great pleasure if you try to allow yourself to be taken over by it, but Edzard's skill has limits. There's never a moment of lyrical, crazy joy in Little Dorrit that makes the film turn into more than the sum of its parts; everyone seems to be so busy keeping the story going that there's no room for such “privileged moments.” That dogged faithfulness is why the movie remains an impressive, highly enjoyable stunt, but may also be why it will never be thought of as a classic.

NEXT STOP … Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), David Copperfield (1935)

1988 369m/C GB Alec Guinness, Derek Jacobi, Cyril Cusack, Sarah Pickering, Joan Greenwood, Max Wall, Amelda Brown, Daniel Chatto, Miriam Margolyes, Bill Fraser, Roshan Seth, Michael Elphick, Eleanor Bron, Patricia Hayes, Robert Morley, Sophie Ward; D: Christine Edzard; W: Christine Edzard; C: Bruno de Keyzer; M: Giuseppe Verdi. Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards '88: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Guinness); Nominations: Academy Awards '88: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Guinness). VHS, LV, Closed Caption WAR, SIG, TVC