Only a couple of years after receiving an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay for The Killing Fields, Bruce Robinson made his directorial debut, adapting to film his unpublished autobiographical novel, Withnail and I.
Richard E. Grant is a one-man one-liner machine
Like most character studies, Withnail and I relies heavily on performance, personality, and dialogue to carry the day. From scene to scene, the audience is tugged along not by action or even plot, but by what the characters will say or do next, and in what venue, under what circumstances.
And with Withnail and I, the circumstances are almost always dire; whether the two actors are bouncing off the walls of their cracker-box apartment in London or slogging through the muck and mud in the country.
It would be a tragedy if not for the fact that Withnail as played by Richard E. Grant is a one-man one-liner machine constantly spitting out funny, bitter, and blistering pearls.
A Whiter Shade of Pale
Withnail and I opens with the great King Curtis rendition of A Whiter Shade of Pale playing over images of the boys’ filth and famine. And as the pasty white faces of Withnail and I (Paul McGann) begin to emerge, the subversive humor of the song becomes clear, and Bruce Robinson nearly encapsulates the entire film in the very first scene.
Watching Withnail and I for the first time is a bit like watching an auto race in anticipation of the car crashes to come; the two luckless lads encounter one mishap after another, compelling the viewer forward through a strange sort of slapstick comedy of errors.
But, upon repeated viewings, one learns that to know Withnail and I is to love it; as so many have over the years, recurrently finding themselves reflected in the foibles of the down and out actors.
And like A Whiter Shade of Pale, beneath the bleak exterior, Withnail and I attains an oddly endearing hue.
Criterion DVD Extras
The Criterion DVD extras include a collection of irreverent photographs taken by artist and illustrator, Ralph Steadman, prior to and during the filming of Withnail and I and a short 1999 documentary called Withnail and Us, in which the actors and producers join Bruce Robinson in reminiscing about the making of the film.
The real joy of the short doc are the interviews with the rabid fans who helped build the film's cult following. The sheer love for Withnail and I expressed by these fans is infectious; especially when they begin to rattle off their favorite lines of dialogue, which will mean nothing to those who haven't seen the film (but that, is why they call it a cult):
My thumbs have gone weird…
Don't threaten me with a dead fish…
Come on lads, let's get home, the sky's beginning to bruise…
Scrubbers!
The Return of Bruce Robinson
While Bruce Robinson has not directed many films since Withnail and I (his last film was the flawed but intriguing thriller, Jennifer 8 from 1992), he has been quite prolific as a writer of screenplays (Return to Paradise [1998], In Dreams [1999]) and books (Paranoia in the Launderette [1998], Harold and the Duck [2005]).
2010 marks the return of Bruce Robinson as a film director.
Bruce Robinson helms the long anticipated adaptation of The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson; and not surprisingly, the film stars Johnny Depp as Dr. Thompson's alter ego, Paul Kemp, drinking and lusting his way around San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 1950's.
- Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- R (Restricted)
- Release Date: July 10, 2001
- ASIN: B00005JH9D
Martin G. Wood - M.G. Wood is a writer of screenplays, film and literary reviews, and poetry. M.G. Wood can often be found ...
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