Little Dorrit Review (Part Two)

So in my last post, I went over some of the main characters, but in this one I will briefly describe a few of the secondary ones and then get to the good stuff. :P

And boy, are there a lot of secondary characters.  (This really amazes me, because as we all know it was very difficult for Charles Dickens to come up with characters for his novels and his trademark was to have only one or two people in each story. *cough*)  There's old Mrs. Clennam, a cold and domineering who treated Arthur harshly as a child and will never confess that she might have been wrong. There's Flintwinch, the ugly and mysterious butler at the House of Clennam, and his won't-say-boo-to-a-goose wife Affery. There's Mr. and Mrs. Merdle, Edmund's mother and stepfather, at the top of London society... but not quite what they seem.

Amanda Redman and Tom Courtenay as Mrs. Merdle and Mr. Dorrit

Frederick Dorrit (doormat brother of William Dorrit), Tip Dorrit (ne'er-do-well brother of Fanny and Amy), Daniel Doyce (inventor and business partner with Arthur), Tattycoram (put-upon charity child, brought up by Arthur's friends the Meagles), Miss Wade (bitter and mysterious woman who holds the secret of Arthur's past) Maggy (sweet, mentally handicapped friend of Little Dorrit), Cavaletto (friendly but frightened former cellmate of Blandois, adopted by the Plornish family of Bleeding Heart Yard), Mrs. General (gentlewoman hired to be a companion and teacher for Fanny and Amy when they become rich) and Flora Finching (once Arthur's sweetheart, now determined to woo him back) all play a role in the captivating story.

Ruth Jones as Flora Finching

Oh, and Mr. F's Aunt. We must not forget her. She really has no bearing on the story except as comic relief. Flora's first husband, Mr. Finching, left his aunt as a legacy to Flora. Flora, fluttery but loyal, takes Mr. F's eccentric Aunt under her wing--and with a grain of salt.

Annette Crosbie as Mr. F's Aunt,
Matthew Macfadyen asArthur Clennam

The scene pictured above is nothing short of EPIC.  "'E's got a proud stomach, this chap. Give 'im a meal of chaff."


I love how familial relationships are portrayed in this movie.  Poor Little Dorrit has just about the most awful family in the world (at least, it seems so at first).  Her father, brother and sister all consider her to be not quite as good as they, and consequently frequently berate her for "disgracing" the family because she is not ashamed of being poor.  "Good gracious, Amy! You're always showing us up!" 

Amy and Mr. Dorrit

And yet Amy is never resentful towards her family.  Her father, who has dubbed himself the Father of the Marshalsea, will never cease to consider himself a gentleman (though he's not above subtly asking visitors to leave a "small testimonial"). Yet once he is liberated from prison and allowed to live as a gentleman, he exists in constant fear that someone will discover his past... and all this fear is wrapped up in his increasing dementia.

The Dorrits leave the Marshalsea prison

Fanny Dorrit and Tip Dorrit are more harsh in their treatment of their sister, though as the movie progresses Fanny's attitude toward Amy becomes more gentle.  "Here's a little gift from your wicked sister.  There. That'll brighten you up a bit, you little mouse."  (One of my friends calls me "little mouse" too. :))

Now, I'm really going to be random and just bombard you with a lot of pictures and general, unconnected remarks about Stuff I Like.

We call this hat "Arthur's ugly hat". No, no, really, we like it. That's just a germ of endearment, as Peter of The Railway Children would say.

I think I may have forgotten to mention how much I like John's father, Mr. Chivery, the head turnkey at the Marshalsea.  He is one of the real heroes of the story.  When Amy rejects John's proposal, Mr. Chivery is almost as crushed as his son, yet he doesn't, well, mope about it.  (Oops, the Anne-girl just threw her copy of the book at me... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say anything bad about John, I promise!)  *SPOILER ALERT* When Arthur is sent to the Marshalsea near the end of the movie and becomes ill, it's Mr. Chivery who writes to Amy and asks her to come and nurse Arthur.  He knows perfectly well that Arthur is the man who, in essence, ruined his son's chance at happiness (because Little Dorrit was in love with Arthur--pray excuse me, Doyce and Clennam--, you know, and therefore wouldn't marry John), but, like his son, "he don't bear no malice."

Ron Cook and Russell Tovey as Mr. Chivery and John Chivery

Once the Dorrits become rich and bounce off to Venice to spend their newly acquired cash, Mr. Dorrit is adamant that his daughters be made presentable to Society (with a capital S).  In order to do this he hires a Most Respectable Gentlewoman by the name of Hortensia General.   Mrs. General bulldozes her way into the Dorrit family and causes Fanny and Amy a great deal of distress.  Amy tries to cope with it, but Fanny will not be pushed around, and the result is quite hilarious.

"I think that if I see another painting I might very well have to scream, Mrs. General!"

"I'm quite sure you'd do nothing so un-ladylike."
"Don't count on it."

Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, prisms and Pam Ferris as Mrs. G.

And then there are all the other little bits I love... the little bits that I can't really talk about for fear of spoiling the end.  The heartwrenching deaths of a couple of characters (no, not Uncle Ned, he's already dead remember?), a highly amusing wedding, Structural Difficulties in a Very Old Building, financial upheaval, secrets, lost wills, Crime Does Not Pay, very bad wine, sacrifices and at long last a highly satisfactory wedding at the end.

I don't mind saying that because, hey, y'all know they get married in the end, right? RIGHT??

The wedding scene, the last in the movie, contains some of the best lines in the movie:

"Ah, don't cry at a wedding, Mama Meagles!" (easy for you to say)... "Sparkler, BE quiet".... "She is very beautiful.  Si.  That's what I said".... and then finally the closing music and the rolling credits.

I love this movie.

(I also love this trailer.  I didn't make it, but I thought you might like to see it.)

So! If you haven't yet seen LD, do you plan to?  If you have seen it, what did I leave out of this review?  What quotes deserve to be in Quote of the Week?  Did I forget any of the characters?  Leave a comment!

(and if you haven't seen LD and don't want spoilers... read the comments with discretion. :D)