The Browning Version (1994)

recommended

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Andrew Crocker-Harris, a teacher in a British public school, is approaching retirement. This is not, however, a sentimental "inspirational teacher" film like "Goodbye Mr Chips". James Hilton's character was an elderly man looking back happily on his long years of service to the school. Andrew has not reached normal retirement age (he is probably in his fifties) but has been forced by ill-health to retire and take a less arduous, but less well-paid and less prestigious, position teaching English as a foreign language..Moreover, no teacher could be less inspirational than Andrew Crocker- Harris. His less-than-friendly nickname among his pupils is "the Croc" (as in crocodile- spelled thus in Rattigan's play, but this could also be heard as "the Crock", British slang for broken-down old car). A brilliant scholar at Oxford, he entered the teaching profession in the idealistic belief that he had a vocation to inspire his pupils with his own love of classical literature. The intervening years have disillusioned him. He has become humourless and pedantic; his pupils either dislike him or treat him as a figure of fun and regard his lessons as a bore. His attempts to maintain discipline by using sarcastic ridicule have made him even less popular and given him an even less friendly nickname-"the Hitler of the Lower Fifth". He is unpopular with his colleagues and patronised by his headmaster. His marriage to a younger woman has broken down, and his wife Laura has been having an adulterous affair with the young American chemistry teacher Frank Hunter.Rattigan's plot - attractive young married woman torn between a dull, unresponsive husband and a charming but faithless lover- is essentially that of a number of literary works, notably "Madame Bovary" and "Anna Karenina", but whereas Flaubert and Tolstoy placed the emphasis on the woman, Rattigan is more concerned with the wronged husband. The crisis comes when Taplow, one of Andrew's pupils, unexpectedly gives him a copy of Robert Browning's translation of Aeschylus's "Agamemnon". (Hence the title). Andrew is touched by the gift, but Laura spitefully suggests that the boy gave him the book, not out of kindness or love for Greek literature, but as a bribe to secure promotion to a higher class. (Aeschylus's play is significantly about an unfaithful wife who murders her husband). Rattigan's play was written in 1948 and another film version was made in 1951. Mike Figgis came under some criticism for making this film a contemporary story rather than a forties period piece, but I think he was right. Public schools are very conservative institutions, and there is little which explicitly ties the story to the forties; updating it to the nineties gave more contemporary resonance. There are a few changes to Rattigan's story and some minor details have been changed. Andrew's wife was originally called Millie, not Laura, and his nickname was the "Himmler" of the Lower Fifth, not Hitler. (Possibly Figgis feared that nineties' audiences would not know who Himmler was). One detail that does not ring true is the selection of the school's games master to play cricket for England. In the forties there were many amateurs playing at the top level in English cricket and the selection of a schoolmaster for England might have been plausible, but not in the nineties. The 1951 " Browning Version" is regarded by some as a great classic of the British cinema, but I prefer the 1994 film. Anthony Asquith's version is too emotionally reticent, too much stiff-upper-lip and not enough genuine feeling. I also felt that Jean Kent's Millie came across as too cold, hard and spiteful. With Greta Scacchi's Laura one senses, as one does not with Kent, something we are told by Andrew, namely that she is as much to be pitied as he is. She behaves badly towards her husband, but she is a victim, not only of a failed marriage, but also of the way she is treated by Frank, with whom she is deeply in love, even though he does not love her.As for Albert Finney, this is a superb performance. We can always sense that beneath his crusty exterior Andrew is a man of deep feelings, unlike Michael Redgrave who in the early scenes is too much the dry-as- dust pedant to be entirely credible when his more emotional side is revealed later on. Finney is particularly good in the scene (not in Rattigan's play) when he reads extracts from "The Agamemnon" in the original Greek to his class, no longer Hitler or the Croc but a man inspired by his passion for great literature. He reveals Andrew as a truly tragic hero- a man faced with the simultaneous disintegration of both his career and his marriage, but determined to face the future with stoicism. This film has one or two weaknesses. Matthew Modine as Frank is perhaps the weak link in the acting; I preferred Nigel Patrick in the original. (Frank was not an American in Rattigan's play- doubtless the producers wanted a role for a Hollywood big name). The invented sub-plot involving Taplow and the school bully struck me as unnecessary, These, however, are minor points. Overall, this "Browning Version" is a deeply moving human drama, one of the best British films of the nineties. 9/10Some goofs. After the cricket match has finished we are told that Fletcher has scored 112 not out, but during the match itself we see on the scoreboard that he has already scored 123. We see in the school hall the Royal Arms bearing the motto "Ich Dien", only used with the "three feathers" badge of the Prince of Wales. The correct motto for the Royal Arms would be "Dieu Et Mon Droit".

I got this out one wet Sunday afternoon hoping for an inspirational school drama along the lines of "To sir with love" or "Dead poets society"-- something to moisten my eyes and make me think anything was possible. Boy was I wrong -- this muddling drama, which covers the last days of an old masters career at an English public school, was depressing from beginning to end. As each element of the masters tragic life was revealed to me, I kept wondering when the turn-around point would be. Surely this entire movie was not just going to be the telling of the sad life of an uninteresting man and an ineffective teacher -- surely there would be some rising climax to contrast the woe. But no! For the final speech scene which I hung on for, the master turned out the most embarrassing self pitying display I have ever seen on film -- something like my grandfather when he's had too many drinks at Christmas. Of course, the teachers and students dutifully applauded, shouted and stomped (to indicate to the viewer that this was indeed the climax) but I was just thought he was an old fool. There were admittedly some nice insights into human behavior and relationships and some good English upper-class mocking (tea and cricket chaps!) but the other characters never seemed to develop as if to save room for the central story. Unfortunately, the sad old teacher didn't developed beyond self-pity throughout the entire movie, leaving me with the definite impression that he "..got what he deserved, no more and certainly no less".

Albert Finney and Greta Scacchi have given a fabulous performance. Indeed this is a rare gem in cinema. I give this 9 out of 10. The script is tight, the music score good and the performances are amazing.Its a simple story of a school teacher who is forced to retire. He finds no comfort in his retirement as he is denied his pension and there is absolutely no one in the school who is sad to see him go. Living with an unfaithful life, this school teacher lives a lonely life. Never to bow down to anyone and nor letting anyone sympathise with him, he portrays a classic and rare case of a strong human being.As i say this, it was sad to see him break down when a kid showers him a rare gift of love. If this movie does not touch your soul or move you, then you truly belong to the cold hearted. Keep a handkerchief ready.Please watch this movie. It is a masterpiece .

The movie lives with the superior performance of Albert Finney, who puts Crocker-Harris alive so tremendously, that you can't help but suffer with him. So much that you nearly wish to jump into the screen… ...to support that poor man in his struggle against unfairness.Finney plays a senior teacher at an English elite school, who is not very popular, even addressed with the nickname "Hitler" of his form, due to his severe strictness and dry adoration for the classical, but dead poets of ancient Greek and Latin. As a perfect British gentleman he is tied by fully self-controlled formality, holding back all his emotions. He is totally obliged to conventions, always saying yes to everything. Except once.