Reviews

It’s all very clever, but none of it would work without a cast of eloquent, charismatic, and versatile actors holding down the center in their turn. Fiennes, Cumberbatch, Patel, and Kingsley (with Richard Ayoade in a few supporting roles) each bring a different flavor (or flavour, if you will) of Britishness to Dahl’s prose, which Anderson has them deliver not only in his characteristic monotone manner, but at a breakneck pace. The rapid-fire recitation might be the filmmaker’s one big misstep here. He barely gives the actors a chance to breathe, much less sink into their characters. They’re not really supposed to, by design, but it still proves distracting.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is, from the start, firm in its devotion to one, eminently suitable style. Featuring many long takes, employing ingenious practical effects, allowing nested sets to lift and transport actors across the globe, Henry Sugar has the character of a travelling show mounted in a cramped auditorium. At times it plays like lavish Punch and Judy. At others like a Brechtian parable.

Sustaining that illusion, the intimate band of actors double up on some roles. Benedict Cumberbatch, the lead, could hardly be better cast for a reformable louche at large in London clubland. Ben Kingsley keeps a straight face as the mystic who inspires Sugar’s magical leap forward. Dev Patel, Rupert Friend and Richard Ayoade compete to better each other for comic timing. As you will gather, it’s all very male, but this is set in a world where men still felt empowered to define the culture. There is a hangover from empire. There is a sense of post-public school malaise.