Charles Dance

Rumours

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Cate Blanchett as the German Chancellor

The opening credits of Rumours formally thank the leaders of the G7. Which must be some kind of joke, because none of them emerges reputationally intact from this very weird film. Though getting a precise bead on the type of humour in play is tricky. Is it political satire? Cultural satire? Surreal japery? Guy Maddin is involved – co-writing and directing with brothers Evan and Galen Johnson – so who honestly knows. Maddin’s films don’t make money but he has fans in the right places, often managing to snag the sort of actor audiences might not expect, playing the sort of role the actor probably didn’t expect. Isabella Rossellini as a beer heiress … Read more

Bleak House

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Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock in Bleak House

If the film is often a novella, the TV mini-series is often the full-fat 600-pager, with Charles Dickens right up at the top of the list when it comes to cliffhanger endings to the week’s proceedings – the stories were often written for serialisation, Bleak House having appeared in 20 weekly editions of 32 pages plus illustrations. The BBC have something of a lock on Dickens, but their productions can be a bit dusty, more focused on the clothes than the action. But not this Bleak House. This 2005 outing is their best Dickens since 1994’s Martin Chuzzlewit and has the edge on its previous Bleak House, made in 1985 and starring Diana … Read more