Customer Reviews

The Dresser

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A brilliant performance by Tom Courtenay as the dresser makes this film a must-see! His portrayal of a gay professional who's dependent on his erratic employer is both funny and sad. Albert Finney also excels as the neurotic, aging actor. Also an interesting glimpse at the behind-the-scenes politics of a small acting company.

I have always loved the theater and actors. The Dresser pays great homage to the noble art of the thespian but also captures the isolating nature of their work.

Finney and Courtenay are both brilliant as the waning star and the has-been confidant. Their relationship is one of the most poignant ever written. Courtenay's character is a passionate study of both desperation and unflagging loyalty.

This one is truly a keeper for anyone who loves theater, actors and just good drama.

Others have said what a splendid film this is. I will add that it is also a rare thing: a movie that is smart and not a bit didactic.

Like much good art, The Dresser tells us more about human nature than the whole vapid enterprise of psychiatry. Imagine how dull these characters -- all of humanity -- would be after drugging and doping by shrinks.

Will there be anymore Shakespeares after Prozac? Does psychiatry even allow for as much noncomformity and artistic freedom as does communism? No more moral conflicts, no more tragedy. Just serene banality. The antithesis of this film. The antithesis of life.

If you are a devotee of what Thomas Szasz has called "The Therapeutic State," you almost certainly with neither understand nor like the film.

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