I really admired the fabulous job of acting displayed by Tom Courtenay in this film but story- wise, this wasn't an entertaining two hours for me. I mean, who wants to watch a senile old man (played by Albert Finney) rant and rave for two hours? Not me.
I endured it, especially in the first hour which was brutal, to admire Courtenay's work and the nice cinematography in the early train scene. From that point, it was nothing but dressing room scenes (I'm told this was a much better play than film) with Courtney trying to calm down Finney. It gets better in the second half when we see why people put up with this obnoxious actor,. because he CAN act really well, as he demonstrates in this King Lear production staged during the WWII blitz on London.
As I said, Courtney, playing the patient dresser, "Norman," to the aging star (Finney, who only is called "sir" in here) was terrific and many thought deserving of an Academy Award. I could understand him better, too, because Finney started yelling I couldn't understand a lot of what he said with his accent. That also hurt my enjoyment of the film.
I endured it, especially in the first hour which was brutal, to admire Courtenay's work and the nice cinematography in the early train scene. From that point, it was nothing but dressing room scenes (I'm told this was a much better play than film) with Courtney trying to calm down Finney. It gets better in the second half when we see why people put up with this obnoxious actor,. because he CAN act really well, as he demonstrates in this King Lear production staged during the WWII blitz on London.
As I said, Courtney, playing the patient dresser, "Norman," to the aging star (Finney, who only is called "sir" in here) was terrific and many thought deserving of an Academy Award. I could understand him better, too, because Finney started yelling I couldn't understand a lot of what he said with his accent. That also hurt my enjoyment of the film.