[.ca] Dresser

From Amazon.com:
It's life in the Theater with a capital T in this film adaptation of the London and Broadway hit by Ronald Harwood. Though we see other people, the film is really a duet between Sir (Albert Finney), an aging actor-manager who runs his own theater company, and Norman (Tom Courtenay), his dresser, who gets him into costume and, ultimately, into shape to go onstage each night. Sir is on his last legs; Norman is alternately his cheerleader, his parent, and his whipping boy--whatever it takes to get Sir up to performance level each night. Finney perfectly captures the vainglorious insecurity of this aging ham, whose career has never quite matched his expectations but who has to convince himself each night (with Norman's help) that a performance in the provinces is as big a deal as treading the boards in the West End. The film lives and dies, however, with Courtenay's neatly nuanced performance as Norman. No man is a hero to his valet--but Courtenay finds the affection along with the disdain that are part of this character. A great backstage tale. --Marshall Fine

Brilliant:
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. \o...\c

Brilliant drama about drama:
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.