The Personal History of David Copperfield Review

From the man who created The Thick of It and Veep, Armando Iannucci returns to the world of filmmaking with his comedic take of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield.

David Copperfield (Dev Patel) is a man with yo-yoing fortunes. Born to a widow, David suffers at the hands of a crude stepfather (Darren Boyd) – forced to work in a factory as a child, and gets a gentleman’s education. Over the years David meets a number of colourful characters who help and hinder him throughout his life.

David Copperfield has arguably been considered Dickens’ magnum opus. It is Dickens’ most autobiographical work because of David Copperfield’s background – particularly the shared childhoods. It was also a fairly lengthy book that Iannucci and his co-writer, Simon Blackwell condensed down to two hours.

I personally never had been a fan of Dickens’ works. I have found his novels  to be too long and meandering. This was down to the method of publication because many were serialised in magazines. Cinematic adaptations have often had to cut out major story elements – like David Lean’s adaptation of Oliver Twist removed Rose Maylie from the film.

If The Personal History of David Copperfield has been a more traditional adaptation some story elements would have been cut. The storyline involving Ham (Anthony Welsh) and Emily (Aimee Kelly) was really on the sidelines and could have been cut without affecting much of the story. The Personal History of David Copperfield was able to incorporate more because the comedic approach allowed for a breezy pace – so it could cover a lot of the story.

The Personal History of David Copperfield is actually my first experience of the story. I have never read the novel or seen any adaptation. Iannucci’s aim was to make the story as accessible as possible. Due to the comedic approach and brighter visuals, the horrors of child factory labour, debtors prison, and poor living conditions were downplayed and Mr. Micawber’s (Peter Capaldi) declining fortunes were played for laughs. As the title suggests the film focus was David’s journey and his relationships.

Iannucci is known for being a talented satirist as his body of work shows. The Personal History of David Copperfield was an incredibly funny film because of the writing and the cast. Many of the actors have experience with comedy with the likes of Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, and Daisy May Cooper. Laurie and Capaldi were the highlights who had some of the funniest lines in the film. Laurie played Mr. Dick, a member of David’s extended family – he was intelligent but eccentric who believed he had the spirit of Charles I inside him. Mr. Dick offers up a little bit of Charles Dickens’ social commentary with a line about petitioning the government for better living conditions for the working poor.

Capaldi as Mr. Micawber was hilarious as he tried to avoid his creditors. He was introduced by tricking his creditors away from his front door and then fight them off when they reach through the windows. Capaldi was a quirky and melodramatic and I like to think Capaldi was playing an alternative version of The Doctor.

One of the unique features of the film was the colour-blind casting. Iannucci did assemble a talented cast and there is no faulting their performances. The colour-blind casting did lead to some interesting family dynamics. The film does have two ways to justify this decision. The first was the framing device where David was reading his story. During the film, David was showing writing his life story and he made alternations, making the main character an unreliable narrator. The film also had a surreal look at times. This was most evident during an early sequence where the young David visits Yarmouth, which results in a giant hand destroying the houseboat and paper figures. It was like a dark version of sequences in the Paddington films.

The Personal History of David Copperfield does what it set out to do: be an entertaining introduction to one of Dickens’ most famous novels and be a hilarious comedy in its own right.