Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom, 2005)

[tryavna]

Really surprised that nobody's created a thread for this clever little film with Steve Coogan, my favorite currently active British comic actor. I didn't manage to catch it in the theater, but it was just released on DVD this past week and definitely deserves a rental. It seems to be getting extremely mixed reviews on Amazon and IMDb, but I wonder if it takes at least a slight knowledge of the original novel by Laurence Sterne to understand the point of this movie.

The novel is one of the first great self-referential novels; it's basically about the narrator trying to write his own autobiography but never managing to do it because of all of the digressions he feels he needs to provide to help orient his readers. So the movie very appropriately follows suit: It's about the attempt to make the film adaptation.

I'm not sure that the movie holds up to close scrutiny, but it's one of the more intelligent comedies I've come across in quite a while. And of course, it's a delight for anyone who majored in English. (There are also some knowing references to other films about films, including quotations of Nino Rota's score for 8 1/2 throughout the soundtrack.)

[Matt]

I wonder if it takes at least a slight knowledge of the original novel by Laurence Sterne to understand the point of this movie.

I wonder if it doesn't require at least as much knowledge of Coogan's career and private life. It certainly helps to know who Alan Partridge is, at least. The tagline for the American release of the film is "He's about to play the role of his life."

Speaking of the quotation of other films' scores, there's a particularly amusing moment that uses Nyman's theme from The Draughtsman's Contract.

[tryavna]

I wonder if it takes at least a slight knowledge of the original novel by Laurence Sterne to understand the point of this movie.

I wonder if it doesn't require at least as much knowledge of Coogan's career and private life. It certainly helps to know who Alan Partridge is, at least.

Very true! Also, there's a bit of fun if you know that Coogan also played Tony Wilson, who "interviews" Coogan here, in 24 Hour Party People (which also happened to be directed by Winterbottom).

God, I really do hope that other forum members know and love the Alan Partridge series: "Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! "

[neuro]

I'm a huge fan of Coogan as well, but I'd agree with Matt - the film seems to depend on the viewer's knowledge of, or more accurately, interest in current British comedians (Coogan, Rob Brydon, Dylan Moran, and even Stephen Fry, who one can argue is the godfather of the current breed). The film, at some point, becomes less about the source material and more about Steve Coogan's on-screen persona; he plays "himself" through the filter of the British public's impressions of his private life, as well as his various creations (including the aforementioned Alan Partridge, which Brydon hints at throughout). Oddly, this result gives the film a strange sort of logic - a novel of distractions becomes a film too distracted to properly adapt the novel.

[denti alligator]

As a big fan of the novel I wanted more of the novel. Certainly a brilliant way to film the book, but it really dragged in the middle and I didn't care a bit about any of the characters (the actors and film crew, etc). That was the film's major flaw, really, since the coup of Sterne's novel is--despite its flauting of plot in favor of digression--to have created such incredibly rich and, yes, likable characters.

[rs98762001]

God, I really do hope that other forum members know and love the Alan Partridge series: "Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! "

Legendary stuff. Partridge is one of the all-time great comedic creations.