The Browning Version

After watching the Terence Rattigan DVD collection (with most of the adaptations being from the 70s and 80s) when staying with family friends last year, Rattigan very quickly became one of my favourite playwrights and he still is. his dialogue is so intelligent, witty and meaty, his characterisation so dynamic, complex and real and the storytelling so beautifully constructed.

'The Browning Version' is a defining example of Rattigan at his finest. As said in previous reviews for the adaptations part of the Terence Rattigan DVD collection, is also at his best when laying bare deep emotional and psychological strains in his principal characters within a skillful dramatic framework. 'The Browning Version' epitomises that as well as everything that makes me love Rattigan's work so much. This 1994 film is a very worthy adaptation and a lovely film in its own right.

For me, the 1951 Anthony Asquith-directed film with Michael Redgrave is the definitive version and one of the best film versions of any of Rattigan's play, and there is also a preference for the 1985 TV version with Ian Holm and Judi Dench. As said though, quality-wise this version is more than worthwhile and satisfies as an adaptation too.

Directed by Mike Figgis, an interesting if curious choice in his last film before achieving international recognition, 'The Browning Version' (1994) has a few deficits. The whole school bully stuff was not needed and yanks the viewer too much back to the present day, which is sad when the film mostly does very well with its recreation of the period for something modern in comparison to be this at odds.

Matthew Modine is a little bland as Frank, he has the charm but not the callousness and cockiness and the character has been more interesting elsewhere. The film also has the one thing in the 1951 film that struck a false note intact, despite the speech being powerful how the film concludes so optimistically comes over still as contrived and didn't feel right with the rest of the film.

However, so much is done right with 'The Browning Version' (1994). It's beautifully made, with handsome period detail, cosy and sumptuous interiors and the cinematography is a lovely looking complement. The music is more understated than intrusive, a good thing for a film with as gentle a tone as here, and is soothingly orchestrated. Figgis's direction is controlled without being starchy or too low-key to lack presence.

Rattigan's writing is a very large star here. His superb writing, dynamic between the characters and consummate attention to very complex characterisation shine through wonderfully here and really keeps things afloat. There are changes here but rarely in a way that's distracting. The story is gently and intelligently done, as well as incredibly affecting. It too avoids becoming stage bound as is a potential problem with adaptations of plays. The scene with the gift brought tears to my eyes and a lump to the throat, it was always a moving scene in the source material and the same applies here, Albert Finney's reaction particularly stands out.

Of the cast, Albert Finney dominates as a sometimes stern but often incredibly heartfelt Crocker Harris. Despite the character being widely disliked by the students it is very difficult to not feel sorry for him. Greta Scacchi provides a more sympathetic portrayal of his wife (called Laura here and not Millie), usually played cold and without a heart, redeeming qualities or weaknesses as how Rattigan intended. But this more sympathetic approach works because it's not often that Crocker Harris' wife's point of view is understood by the viewer but one does here despite not condoning what she does.

Ben Silverstone's Taplow has a twinkling charm, with his chemistry with Finney's Crocker Harris providing a lot of the film's heart, while Michael Gambon is very good as ever and it was interesting seeing Julian Sands relatively early on in his career.

In summation, simple and gentle but beautiful though with short-comings. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A touching,gentle movie,The Browning Version is perhaps hugely under-rated.

The simple tale of an aging school teacher forced into retirement actually contains many poetic metaphors for struggle.Crocker-Harris finds himself at one of life's great crossroads and wrestles with the inner turmoil of the knowledge that his life-work may have been futile.His convictions about language and literature are to be swept aside with the arrival of his successor and his still-beautiful wife,sympathetically played by Greta Scaachi,is as distant as his pupils.

Finney plays this role with a calm and measure that is evidence of a great actor at work.Perhaps only Hopkins could have hoped to have done so well with this role.

The score is excellent and the cinematography elegant.A great "English" film in every sense;my only wish is that it might have been a little longer.Somehow,an epic running time may have yielded the acclaim that it justly deserved.

This was an unexpected jewel of a movie. If you like movies such as "Remains of the Day," you will enjoy this one. Against the backdrop of a traditional boys school in the English countryside, a teacher who is being forced out examines his life. This movie is well-done across the board--the rich if spare script (perfect), the cinematography, a well-integrated score, all perfectly paced. This movie and the characters in it have layers. The acting by Albert Finney and Greta Sacchi is masterful (Michael Gabon is good, too). All that, and it has an honest ending. This movie had my rapt attention from the opening scene, and I am certain to watch it again.

This is one of those movies that are easy to overlook because of their lack of special effects, bone-rattling audio, and sexual situations. Nevertheless, The Browning Version tells a poignant story of an aging teacher who is being shunted aside in favor of a younger replacement. Albert Finney is wonderful as Crocker-Harris, "the Hitler of the lower sixth," whose health is failing and whose enthusiasm for teaching is gone. Greta Scacchi is equally good as his unfaithful wife. Her nuanced performance is one way in which this version is superior to the much-admired Michael Redgrave issue of 1951. In the latter, Jean Kent plays an unrelenting bitch who cares not a whit for her husband's plight. One cannot, under any circumstances, imagine how the two characters ever got together. In the new rendition, however, one can see how the lovely Miss Scacchi might have fallen for the athletically built Finney. As a result, one can better appreciate the disillusionment and bitterness that inform her character as she contemplates what he has become.

This is remake of "The Browning Version", great movie of Anthony Asquith. Here Michael Redgrave is replaced with one of my favorite British actors, Albert Finney. Finney plays Andrew Crocker-Harris, teacher of classic languages in a British prep school. He's disliked from students, his colleagues and his younger wife is being unfaithful to him. The only boy who likes Crocker-Harris is Taplow and they have special relationship that culminates with Taplow's gift that makes Crocker-Harris cry, in one of my favorite scenes of this movie. I also must add, that beside Finney, there is very good performance of Greta Scacchi as his wife. So why to watch this movie? Because of Albert Finney's tutoring skills!!! He gives hour and half of acting lesson to us all. Thank you Mr. Finney, you are a true legend.