The Personal History of David Copperfield

November 4 - 5

WED-THU 4:15 7:00 (Ends Thursday)

(UK / 2019 / Directed by Armando Iannucci)

Armando Iannucci (In the Loop, The Death of Stalin, Veep) adds flair and wit to Dickens’ autobiographical novel, brought to life by Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, and Ben Whishaw.

In 19th Century England, David (Dev Patel) bounces from countryside to seaside town to industrial city as he visits one idiosyncratic family member after another in search of his destiny. Whether living in poverty or comfort, he writes impressions of the people he encounters wherever he goes – the eccentric, donkey-phobic Betsey Trotwood (Tilda Swinton), the addled cousin whose head rattles with the words of a long-beheaded monarch (Hugh Laurie), the quietly slinking Uriah Heep (Ben Whishaw) who squints from under his bowl-cut bangs…

Filled with energy, Iannucci’s film honors David Copperfield without freezing it in the literary past. His is not the London we typically envisage as Dickensian, teeming with urchins and top-hatted “toffs.” Using color-blind and ethnically diverse casting, he creates a multicultural world that looks very much like our own. And as it transposes its source material into a 21st-century cinematic context, his film gives off a magic that accents the fairy-tale aspect of its hero’s rise. The result is an irresistible adaptation that remains true to the novel’s central ideas: that great art is born of great experience, and one’s true fortune can be measured in friends.

PG / 1 hr 59 mins.