ReelBob: ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’ ★★★½

By Bob Bloom

Charles Dickens begins his novel “David Copperfield” with these words: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

In “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” director Armando Iannucci, who adapted the novel with Simon Blackwell, takes these words to heart.

The movie is not only told in the first person from David’s perspective, but also narrated by Copperfield, as we tag along on his tumultuous journey through life and meet the many people who have touched, hurt and influenced him.

Iannucci, who created, wrote and directed episodes of HBO’s popular and successful political-satire series, “Veep,” as well as writing and directing the 2017 comedy “The Death of Stalin,” brings a lightness to this version of “David Copperfield” that seems to gloss over much of the misery David suffered as a boy.

Iannucci takes a more optimistic approach to the story, almost making it into a fairy tale about goodness and decency prevailing over darkness, bigotry and evil.

Iannucci has accentuated his comprehensive concept by casting an international group of performers, including Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire”) as David, Rosalind Eleazar (the television mini-series of “Harlots” and “Howard’s End”) as Agnes Wickfield, Benedict Wong (“Doctor Strange”) as Mr. Wickfield and Anthony Welsh (“Fleabag”) as Ham.

Iannucci also has gathered a solid cast of British performers, led by Tilda Swinton as Mrs. Trotwood, Hugh Laurie as Mr. Dick, Peter Capaldi as Mr. Micawber and Ben Whishaw as Uriah Heep.

Iannucci and Blackwell’s script has made changes to the novel, but their alterations have not diminished the overall theme of Dickens’ work.

Even at a pinch under two hours, the movie seems to race through David’s life while simultaneously touching upon all the important milestones that helped shape our protagonist.

The performance of Patel is the foundation on which the film is built. He is appealing and vulnerable as the young man who is ashamed of his poor beginnings yet finally embraces them, as he realizes they helped shape the man he has become.

It is interesting that, throughout the movie, David is called by many names. His aunt, disappointed that David was not born a girl, calls him Trotwood; Steerforth, his best friend from school, calls him Daisy; and impractical and childlike Dora, his first love, calls him “Dodie.”

All during the film, David is shown writing on scraps of paper his impressions of the people he meets and the events in his life.

When Heep embezzles from Wickfield and his Aunt Trotwood loses her fortune, all the people from David’s past unite to expose Heep, save Wickfield’s business, restore his aunt’s home and prevent him from marrying Agnes.

“The Personal History of David Copperfield” is an uplifting and beautifully photographed movie. Despite all the calamities in David’s life, the film soars with optimism — something that is in short supply these days.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
3½ stars out of 4
(PG), thematic elements, violence