THE DRESSER
(Peter Yates, 1983, 119 mins)
Release date: 21 July 2025
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)
Peter Yates (Summer Holiday, Murphy’s War) directs Albert Finney (Charlie Bubbles), Tom Courtenay (Otley), and Edward Fox (Force 10 from Navarone) in The Dresser, a heart-rending yet darkly humorous tale of life in the theatre.
During the Second World War, a group of actors take Shakespeare across the industrial north, led by an ageing and imperious actor known only as ‘Sir’ (Finney), against a background of air-raid sirens and exploding bombs. With his mental and physical condition deteriorating, selfless dresser Norman (Courtenay) struggles to ensure that the show – Sir’s 227th performance as King Lear – goes on.
Based on the experiences of screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Pianist), assistant to legendary Shakespearean actor Sir Donald Wolfit (90° in the Shade), The Dresser is a moving exploration of loyalty and unrequited love.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Interview with actor Claire Harrison (2025)
• Interview with director of photography Kelvin Pike (2025)
• Interview with camera operator Dewi Humphreys (2025)
• Interview with sound mixer John Hayward (2025)
• Interviews with property master John Chisholm and property buyer Jill Quertier (2025)
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: publicity and promotional material
• New English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with new essay by Thirza Wakefield, a selection of interviews with director Peter Yates and actors Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay charting the film’s production, an overview of critical responses, and film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
• All features subject to change
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BBFC cert: PG
REGION B
EAN: 5060697924152
domino harvey wrote: Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:57 pm the Dresser Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay were both nominated for Best Actor for their roles as the senile old Shakespeare vet and his titular effeminate preparer, and while I think both actors are talented and usually enjoyable in their film work, their over-the-top performances in this film grated on me endlessly. The entire film boils down to a long shriek-off between the two, and the resultant picture is a frustrating experience to put it mildly. Insufferably obnoxious might be more accurate, though. Something went terribly wrong here in a real way.
My recollection of the parts of this film that I have seen are that it's generally quite decent, the production design's recreation of wartime Britain is spectacularly shabby and real-looking, to the point that it kind of beggars belief as to how they accomplished such an effect, and that Tom Courtenay's performance is truly misconceived, bizarre, and awful and makes a gigantic hole in the film.
Courtenay's performance may rub wrong but I believe he originated the role on stage and reaped nominations all along the way. Whatever the work's backdrop and rumbles about class, it's a movie about caretaking and acting and it feels clear the actors felt cared for. Even when leaning into stereotype, outsized performances make sense in this world. Love actors as people the way it loves its actors and you're fine. I was fine.
The first time I saw it was as a kid with my dad in a movie theater -- he loved it -- and the second time I saw it was last year, some years after having taken care of him at the end of his life when we struggled with his dementia. All those years in between I've found myself saying, "WHERE WAS THE STORM?!" a lot. Too much. I don't love the movie, but one thing that struck me as wise and right is that it's always good to have a script ready when things look like they may be getting lost.
