The stellar cast of The Critic is led by Sir Ian McKellen playing caustic critic Jimmy Erskine. Even Erskine would have approved the performances of Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, and the amazing Lesley Manville. Enveloped in fog and decadence the world of the 1930s is beautifully brought to life by designer Lucienne Suren with costumes by Claire Finlay-Thompson. 

The film is based on Curtain Call, the novel by ex-theatre critic Anthony Quinn. From this, screenwriter Patrick Marber and director Anand Tucker have highlighted the pettiness of the theatre as blackmail, suicide, and murder are considered acceptable if the result means achieving fame. This ambition is made even more deplorable as it is set in a world threatened by the rise of fascism, the persecution of homosexuality and rampant racism. The character of Jimmy Erskine is particularly abhorrent, despite some sneaking admiration for his fearlessness when surrounded by such evil, although ultimately he matches it. 

The opening sequence effectively bombards the viewer with the opposing factions. All these characters’ lives are intertwined, and many are interrelated. In this hotbed of rising violence, the good are destroyed. Mark Strong, as the paper’s morally upstanding proprietor David Brookes, is unequal to Erskine’s cunning; Arterton’s actress Nina Land falls foul of Erskine as does painter Stephen Wyley. Only the critic’s scribe/lover Tom Turner, played by Alfred Enoch, remains somewhat unscathed. 

The magnetism of Mckellan’s performance nearly saves the sheer nastiness of the film. Despite his performance, one is horrified at the wickedness that has penetrated all aspects of society and extinguished every spark of goodness.

Strangely, opposing this corruption, there is the gloss of an old-world murder mystery. Marber didn’t have the murderer executed, gave Turner a future and ignored the evidence that Britain was heading towards a fascist state. At the end of the film, the producers lacked the courage to admit with Shakespeare:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

Screening at Eden Court, Inverness until Thu 19 Sep 2024