The Man Who Invented Christmas

[osprey_archer]

It's been a very Christmas-y December for me. So far, there have been two holiday parties, White Christmas at the ArtCraft (I've seen that movie quite a few times already, but it's impossible to turn it down!), and also The Man Who Invented Christmas, which stars Dan Stevens (who played Matthew in Downton Abbey) as Charles Dickens in the throes of composing A Christmas Carol in a desperate bid to save himself from bankruptcy.

An excellent movie. I’ve come to have strong feelings on How to Make a Good Biopic, and I think it almost always works better to focus on a particular episode in the subject’s life rather than try to cram the whole thing in. The writing of A Christmas Carol is a particularly inspired choice - it’s not only Dickens’ most famous work, but it also encapsulates a lot of his most important themes, both in writing and in life.

He’s writing the book to save his family from debt - which was the scourge that destroyed his own childhood, back in the day (which is presented through a few well-done flashbacks), after his charming but deeply feckless father lost all his money. And it’s clear that the elder Dickens hasn’t changed a bit, which adds a certain urgency to the theme that is also prevalent in A Christmas Carol: “Can people change?”

Now, A Christmas Carol and The Man Who Invented Christmas offer different answers to this question: A Christmas Carol says “Yes!” where The Man Who Invented Christmas tends toward “No.” John Dickens remained feckless to the end of his life (making pocket money by selling his son’s signature, for instance, after cutting it off of papers that he dug out of dustbins); Charles was and would remain a difficult person to live with, which would eventually destroy his marriage and prompt one of his daughters to make a very unsuitable marriage just to get out of her unhappy childhood home.

This difference does make the movie strained at points - it doesn’t feel entirely earned when Charles allows himself to redeem Scrooge. (They gesture toward the idea that in redeeming Scrooge, Charles is holding out hope to himself that he will one day overcome his own demons, but they don’t quite nail it.)

The movie has it’s darker side: there’s a particularly brutal scene where Charles verbally shreds his father, who weeps. But there are also some wonderful funny bits, especially all the scenes with Thackeray, who loves to quote the most recent bad reviews of Dickens' work to him, under guise of sympathizing, of course.

And, in appropriate homage to its source and inspiration, the movie ends on a happy and hopeful note. A Christmas Carol is an enormous success, and Charles achieves a temporary rapprochement with his father. The family is all together for the holiday, unified and joyful, and we end on a Christmas toast.

Comments

[missroserose]

I, too, remain completely irrationally fond of White Christmas. So problematic (as most films from the 50s were), and yet so completely enjoyable. I was enraptured when the restored high-def version came out, too - there were so many details on the costumes and makeup I'd completely missed due to the fuzziness of the VHS copies!

I'm so glad you enjoyed The Man Who Invented Christmas! I saw a preview and had that very split feeling of "Ooo, that looks like something I'd really enjoy! Ooooorrr it could be a totally lazy cash-in on the continuing popularity of A Christmas Carol." I completely agree, most people's lives are not only far too long for even a three-hour movie (and not every biopic can be Ghandi but also don't fit neatly into a Hollywood plot arc. Sometimes it's nice to end on a happier note, even if it's made bittersweet by knowledge of how things eventually shook out. Aside: have you read Dan Simmons' Drood? It's basically Amadeus, except set between Dickens and Wilkie Collins, and for all its fantastical premise it doesn't shy away from the less-likable elements of Dickens' life.

[osprey_archer]

Yeah, the other problem with trying to encompass a whole life is a biopic is that aging and death is almost inevitably a bummer note to end on. So much more pleasant and interesting to focus the story on whatever the subject did that made them worthy of a biopic in the first place.

I've never even heard of Drood, sorry.

[missroserose]

What's that wonderful Sandman quote? “October knew, of course, that the action of turning a page, of ending a chapter or of shutting a book, did not end a tale. Having admitted that, he would also avow that happy endings were never difficult to find: "It is simply a matter," he explained to April, "of finding a sunny place in a garden, where the light is golden and the grass is soft; somewhere to rest, to stop reading, and to be content.”

No need to apologize! I think you might enjoy it, but it's not like you've any shortage of books to read. :)

[asakiyume]

Wow, I hadn't heard about this movie, and it sounds really good (if emotionally draining at moments).

[osprey_archer]

It's a lot of fun! Although, yes, also emotionally draining at moments. I get why Dickens is shouting at his dad, but it hurts to watch. There is something especially sad about old people crying.

[artemis_wandering]

Thanks for sharing this review! I never heard of The Man WHo Invented Christmas.

[osprey_archer]

I don't think it got a lot of press when it came out - and possibly it didn't get released very widely, either. Sort of a stealth release!