The Man Who Invented Christmas: A Christmas Cinem-iracle

Originally written 12/10/2017.

'The Man Who Invented Christmas' is the exaggerated account of legendary English novelist Charles Dickens as he battles family drama, financial woes, and personal demons to write and publish arguably his most famous work, 'A Christmas Carol,' in only six weeks, inadvertently reshaping one of the world’s most popular holidays in the process. That, at least, is the film’s narrative. What it’s actually about is a deconstruction of the creative process on all artistic levels, in equal parts questioning how much control a creator has over their creation, how much control the creation has over them, and whether or not the two can be separated at all.

The film stars Dan Stevens of 'Downton Abbey' fame as Dickens. Pressed with looming debt in the face of his opulent lifestyle and haunted by the ghosts of three successive literary flops, he decides to make a wild gamble on an idea he has for a Christmas story. Since nobody wants to fund a story about Christmas, which the film would have you believe was considered a minor holiday in Victorian England, Dickens is forced to self-publish, becoming increasingly dependent on his idea becoming a lucrative smash. While simultaneously playing host to his bankrupt father, played with gusto by Jonathan Pryce, he works through a stiff bout of writer’s block by drawing inspiration from the world around him and transmuting it to page. This process is shown in a series of dream sequences where Dickens talks with his own characters, forming and shaping them through conversation until they begin to reverse the process, rebelling against their author as his life begins to slip through his fingers.

For those who doubted Stevens’ ability to carry a film, of which I was one, then if this movie can’t put to bed those fears, none will. He chooses to play Dickens as a wide-eyed eccentric with almost dual personalities which, though initially jarring, reveals itself to be nuanced as the layers of the plot unfold themselves. Dickens, at leas how the film presents him, led a very bipolar life, an aspect which would have affected his behaviors as an adult. He’s a celebrated author who can’t seem to write anything good. He loves the hustle and bustle of London but can’t stand industrial revolution-era England. He lives a life of unaffordable excess and luxury as a means to escape the specter of his father’s financial failures. Pryce, as his guilt-riddled father, walks a very fine line between being whimsical and bedraggled. And while there are a few wobbles along the way, Pryce manages to stride confidently between the emotional extremes of his role to form the tear-jerking core of the film’s soul.

Any acting credit beyond Stevens and Pryce lands comfortably in the patient lap of Christopher Plummer, who plays the ghostly apparition of Scrooge in Dickens’ mind. Though many actors have successfully played the famous miser, Plummer is faced with perhaps the most daunting task any actor could have in such a role. He must play Scrooge not as a character, but as an unfinished idea that still has details yet to be drawn in. As Dickens’ concept of Scrooge takes shape, so too does Plummer’s performance, growing in malice and intensity until the crotchety old man we all know and love is suitably venomous enough to be redeemed. The very nature of the role requires him to fully embody the psychological process by which a character is formed, a challenge for which Plummer rolls up his proverbial sleeves in confident preparation. To call his performance masterful would be to do it a disservice and to hear Plummer taunt his creator with almost vengeful abandon is worth the price of admission alone.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by solid performances from solid actors. Stand outs include Anna Murphey as an Irish maid who acts as Dickens’ test audience and muse, Morfydd Clark as his discontented wife, and Simon Callow as a pompous illustrator. One of the most endearing and telling performances in the film is Justin Edwards as Dickens’ manager and friend. He’s played both for comic relief and as a foil for Dickens’ dichotomy, earning himself a rushed romantic subplot for his troubles.

Where the film suffers is in the visuals. The costumes are all stunningly beautiful and period accurate and the sets are appropriately claustrophobic, but the cinematography in the movie is consistently confusing. It endorses an over-reliance on extreme close-ups which are meant to instill a sense of discomfort, but are often placed at inappropriate intervals and lose their intended effect. The fast-paced editing is also a problem. Though it’s not cut together like an action movie, it’s clear that director Bharat Nalluri wanted the film to look busier than it actually is. Frankly, it would have benefitted from a few longer takes and some softer transitions to emphasize the film’s dichotomy. Fortunately, the film’s score is both subtle and effective, heightening the big moments to their emotional extremes without disrupting the flow of the scene. The script deserves some mention and praise. Writer Susan Coyne is either an avid fan of Dickens, a clever researcher, or both as the film is littered with literary allusions and famous Dickensian sayings.

There’s much to be discussed below the surface level analysis of 'The Man Who Invented Christmas.' The numerous flashbacks to Dickens’ trying childhood and how they influence his relationships with loved ones and his own characters forces us to question how our experiences shape us and whether or not bonds we usually take for granted can be so easily severed. It’s depiction of how creative minds work, with both benefits and drawbacks plainly painted in broad strokes, invites an intriguing discussion as to what our imaginations and mental constructions say about us. And while the film raises these and many other questions, it deigns not to answer them. Like 'A Christmas Carol' itself, it can be enjoyed as a think piece or as a plaintive holiday offering, meant to inspire an emotional response to the themes of Christmas, family, and generosity. 3/5.

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