The Personal History of David Copperfield
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD - Lionsgate
Two striking elements to Armando Iannucci's adaption of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name — The Personal History of David Copperfield — is the film’s rousing, comedic bravado and the staggeringly profound central performance from actor Dev Patel.
The former is a staple of Iannucci's body of work. The comedy is present with delightful nuance and subtlety. Often hitting more than not without sensationalism, in the same vein as The Thick Of It rather than the overly farcical nature to The Death of Stalin. The Personal History of David Copperfield finds a brilliant, witty balance between the two — undoubtedly lifting a tremendous amount of comedic prowess into moments of tension and trauma in roles from much of the supporting cast, ultimately crafting both a profound and compelling feature of rags to riches.
Peter Capaldi, Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie add a considerable amount of comedic conviction in their respective roles and a lasting, staunch impression on the titular character. It is these very characters, which form in a dense multitude throughout, that are the make or break of this feature. Without such memorable performances, Iannucci's film staggers in its running time and emotional density in the arc of the titular character.
Nonetheless, the material is provided to the cast in a fantastic screenplay from Iannucci and Simon Blackwell that works wonders on a multitude of touching and impassioned levels. However, as an ensemble cast of sorts, there are a significant number of cast members that are here for a second — or a century. The story of Copperfield has an ironic tendency for the past to come full circle and characters go in and out of the story, thick and fast, each performance undoubtedly adding their own voice to the feature. Though, at times there are far too many characters for the film’s own good squeezed in, in what feels both reduddant and a waste of depth at times in place of thematic substance.
The balance between dramatic prowess and comedic embellishment is perfectly crafted here. Not only is there a heartfelt inclusion of ethnicity found throughout, with a colour-blind approach never acknowledged, it is ultimately is allowed to breathe in an organic embodiment without a notion of woke sentiment. This inclusion adds a tremendous amount of layers to the film in regards to Dev Patel's titular character and his constant need to rectify the mistake of characters creating a more atypical name of him to their discretion, not too dissimilar of having a non-westernised name and the surrounding society ignorantly incapable of pronouncing it. Conscious or not, it is a small but morally profound nuance that adds an integral attribute to Copperfield’s already traumatic story arc.
This weight adds significant and appropriate depth for the talent of Patel to shine through. Patel is nothing short of a sensation here. The actor brings beautiful charm and charisma to a dynamic and emotionally engulfing performance that is in a constant flux of emotional range. From scene to scene, Patel has to craft a morally compelling and tragic persona, while still maintaining an effective and engaging character. It is a testament to an actor that expertly performs a skill that is nowhere near as easy to convey as it sounds on paper. His rendition of tragedy and hope is captivatingly wrapped together in a recipe so poignant and entertaining at every turn, with a central lead performance that conquers the screen in a feature that could quite quickly lose its audience with obtuse humour.
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD is released January 24th 2020
