Blithe Spirit
IFCEdward Hall’s filmic take on Noel Coward’s comedy play, Blithe Spirit, doesn’t quite hone its content for a modern day audience, but it does offer up some entertaining moments. Dan Stevens leads the cast as struggling writer Charles Condomine, who has been hired to adapt his book into a screenplay. Suffering alongside him is his second wife, Ruth (Isla Fisher). In order to garner some inspiration, Charles hires an out-of-touch mystic, Madame Arcati (Judi Dench), to conduct a seance at his home.
At first, the evening appears to be a bit of a dud. That is, until the ghost of Charles’ dead wife, Elvira (Leslie Mann) materialize s with the intent of rekindling their romance, despite the obvious “deceased” snag. The main focus on the film from this point onwardsis Charles’ indecision between which of his wives deserves attention and loyalty and Madame Arcati’s futile ability to undo her supernatural accident.
The characters themselves are rather one dimensional and live to serve the plot, which leads credence to why Hall has worked so hard to get a charismatic cast here. Stevens is excellent, which ultimately is his downfall – it isn’t until the end of the film that it is made explicitly clear Charles isn’t supposed to be a nice guy. Yet, because of Stevens’ inherent charisma and likeability this isn’t shown clearly until the final moments. There are, of course, moral dilemmas and questionable actions which Charles has to face, but, given the absurdity of the situation, perhaps a few of these are forgivable.
Fisher is also good, especially in contrast to Mann’s Elvira. Fisher also captures a likeability within Ruth, and it’s this dynamic between her and Charles that makes their relationship enjoyable. Mann doesn’t get the chance to capture any kind of meaningful relationship between Elvira and Charles, which only incriminates her as a basic antagonist, instead of offering up a genuine moral conflict to intensify the drama of the situation.
The film moves along at a steady pace and doesn’t tend to dwell too much on unnecessary material – Hall knows what he wants to say here. There are some questionable moments , however, which do highlight the limitations of the story. For example, a scene in which Elvira pushes a cabinet off the roof onto Charles is meant to depict her deterioration from forlorn lover to psycho killer, but only raises the question of how she could possibly have gotten the cabinet on the roof herself in the first place. Unfortunately, the comedic beats are off kilter and there isn’t too much to laugh at here. The predicament itself is the as close to “funny” as Blithe Spirit can get.
Blithe Spirit is an easy movie. It’s short enough that it doesn’t outstay its welcome and gives fans of Dan Stevens several more reasons to love him. Though not a memorable adaptation, it’s not so bad that one would regret watching entirely.