Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Nicholas Nickleby |
| Original title | Nicholas Nickleby |
| Country of production | United Kingdom , USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2002 |
| length | Cinema: 132 minutes DVD: 127 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Douglas McGrath |
| script | Douglas McGrath |
| production |
Simon Channing-Williams , John Hart , Jeff Sharp |
| music | Rachel Portman |
| camera | Dick Pope |
| cut | Lesley Walker |
| occupation | |
| |
Nicholas Nickleby is a 2002 drama film directed by Douglas McGrath , who also wrote the screenplay. The plot is based on the novel Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens .
action
The first half of the 19th century: When the father of 19-year-old Nicholas Nickleby dies, he leaves his family penniless. Nicholas, his younger sister Kate and his mother move to London . There they audition for Ralph Nickleby, the father's wealthy brother. He turns out to be hard-hearted and reluctant to give help. Kate and her mother are said to be working in a tailoring shop and Nicholas is pushed to accept an open position as an assistant teacher at Dotheboys Hall boarding school in Yorkshire . There the Squeers only see their students as a source of income and labor. The children are beaten and tortured, gifts from their parents are withheld. The unmarried daughter of the boarding school director Wackford Squeers tries to get close to Nicholas, but is turned away by him.
Nicholas befriends Smike, a physically disabled former student who now has to work as a housemaid for the Squeers. Both of them have had enough of the inhumane methods in the boarding school and can escape the house together. They plan to be hired as sailors, but on their way they meet Vincent Crummles, who runs a variety theater, and are hired by him as an actor for the play Romeo and Juliet . But Nicholas wants to see Kate and his mother and so both are on their way to London after the first performance. There Nicholas runs into a business friend of Uncle Ralph, who - arranged by the uncle himself - chases after his sister Kate. After threatening him, he refrains from further harassment of the sister.
While looking for a job, he made the acquaintance of two wealthy brothers who employed him as a secretary and were well paid. Nicholas also meets Madeline Bray, whom he saw briefly as a supplicant in his uncle's house. There are always opportunities to meet each other, in the process they get closer and fall in love. Uncle's secretary, Newman Noggs, secretly helps Nicholas, Madeline, and Smike and shares vital information. In this way, Nicholas and Noggs are able to prevent Madeline's forced marriage, arranged by their uncle, with the uncle's business friend, who had also stalked Kate. They also manage to free Smike from Wackford Squeer's hands when he - again with the help of his uncle - had the boy kidnapped in order to bring him back to boarding school and punish him for his escape. The situation for Uncle Ralph is also getting worse financially, as investors turn their backs on him because of his behavior towards his relatives and he has also speculated on a larger sum.
Secretary Noggs provides crucial clues and a witness to some dark points in Uncle Ralph's past: He secretly married and had a son who fell ill due to neglect and whom he believed dead, but who was sent to the couple's boarding school by a former business colleague Squeers was sent because it was believed the air in the country would do him good. Smike now turns out to be his son, who has since died of tuberculosis in Nicholas' house . Uncle Ralph then commits suicide by hanging himself. Kate finds a suitable husband in the nephew of Nicholas' employers and Nicholas marries his Madeline. The wedding of both couples takes place together, surrounded by their friends who became a new family for them.
background
- It was released in theaters in the USA (with limited release) on December 27, 2002, in Great Britain on June 27, 2003 and in Germany on January 8, 2004.
- The film was shot in various locations in England . Production costs were estimated at $ 10 million.
Reviews
"A Charles Dickens film adaptation that is full of details, completely in the color of the 19th century, without contemporary antics, but with atmospheric human caricatures, a moral superstructure typical of Dickens and excellent actors."
“[The film], like Dickens' novel, revolves less about the fate of the good siblings and more about the character of the evil uncle Ralph Nickleby. [..] Christopher Plummer makes Ralph Nickleby the only interesting character in the film. The way in whose greedy look suddenly, tenderly and immediately suppressed again, sympathy for his niece Kate, whom he had sold to his business partner shortly before, germinates, is an acting masterpiece - and a thousand times more impressive than the end in death and damnation that the faithful McGrath of course has not left out. Ralph Nickleby is not the devil, at most a rather disaffected realist who hasn't seen much good in his life. “Every family needs a hero,” is the slogan used to advertise the film. Here the hero is the villain. "
“With the radiant appearance of the British lead actor Charlie Hunnam, [sic!] Must create irritating visions of sun, beach and surfing in the film audience, which, together with the actor's mechanical benevolence, poses a real problem for the film adaptation. A beautiful Californian adolescent as light in Victorian gloom! [..] The director filmed the popular image of Dickens rather than Dickens himself - he is sort of opening historical album pages. .. [In the film] moments of real shock and real disturbance are missing as well as real, exuberant hilarity. "
“This is of course a fairy tale, and as such the film puts it in postcard-ready images. Misery and splendor are lavishly furnished. It rarely goes beyond the decorative; just when the film wants to touch it, it just seems sentimental. And the extravagant narrative style, which may well correspond to the Dickensian original, makes you strangely tired in the cinema. How a television multi-part would have been available for this thick story anyway. At Christmas time, of course. Because to make matters worse, McGrath also has a message that draws happiness out of all evil. True to the motto: If you don't have a family, you can make one yourself. [..] The world is just too fine here. [..] So it is primarily the acting achievements that save the film halfway. "
Awards
The film was nominated for the 2003 Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture - Comedy or Musical . The cast received the National Board of Review Award in 2002. Jamie Bell and the film for Best Drama were nominated for a Young Artist Award 2003. Romola Garai was nominated for the European Film Award 2003 in the Audience Award category.
literature
- Charles Dickens : Nikolas Nickleby (Original title: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby ). Charles Dickens: works. German by Gustav Meyrink . Manuscriptum, Waltrop and Leipzig 2004, 896 pp.
Web links
- Official website for the film (English)
- Nicholas Nickleby in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Nicholas Nickleby in the Lexicon of International Films