Oliver Twist (2005 film)

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Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist (2005 film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Roman Polanski
Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
Based on Oliver Twist
1837 novel
by Charles Dickens
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Paweł Edelman
Edited by Hervé de Luze
Music by Rachel Portman
Production
company
RP Productions
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 11 September 2005 (2005-09-11)(TIFF)
  • 7 October 2005 (2005-10-07)(United Kingdom)
Running time
130 minutes [1]
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • Czech Republic
  • France
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million [2]
Box office$42.6 million [2]

Oliver Twist is a 2005 drama film directed by Roman Polanski. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood adapts Charles Dickens's 1838 novel of the same name. It is an international co-production of the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and France.

Contents

The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2005 before going into limited release in the United States on 23 September. It received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure.

Plot

Nine-year-old orphaned Oliver Twist is taken to the workhouse by the beadle Mr. Bumble. After daring to ask for more food, Oliver is sold as an apprentice to Mr. Sowerberry, a local undertaker, but runs away following harsh treatment.

Oliver travels a seven-day journey to London where he befriends a young boy named Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, who takes him to join a gang of pickpockets led by the villainous Fagin. He also becomes acquainted with Nancy, a former pupil of Fagin's who is in love with Fagin's associate, Bill Sikes. Dodger and his friend Charley Bates take Oliver out to teach him to pick pockets - it ends in disaster when Oliver is falsely arrested for stealing from Mr. Brownlow. However, Mr. Brownlow decides to take Oliver in and care for him when he learns of the boy's innocence.

Fagin and Sikes become worried that Oliver will bring down the authorities onto them, so force Nancy to help bring Oliver back. Sikes forces Oliver to help him rob Mr. Brownlow's house at gunpoint - Oliver is wounded in a shootout between Sikes and Mr. Brownlow. Sikes and Fagin later decided that Oliver knows too much and will likely 'peach' on them. Sikes suggests that they kill the boy, to which Fagin agrees, despite caring for the boy. Nancy overhears this and manages to inform Mr. Brownlow of Fagin's plan, managing to keep Sikes out of it. However, unbeknownst to her, Dodger has been sent by Fagin to spy on her and tells Fagin and Sikes, the latter of whom murders her.

Nancy's murder becomes public and the police across the city intend to arrest both Sikes and Fagin, for murder and abduction, respectively. Sikes' dog, Bullseye, leads the authorities to the gang's hideout. Sikes uses Oliver as a hostage whilst attempting to escape, but accidentally hangs himself. Oliver is brought back to live with Mr. Brownlow and goes to visit Fagin in jail. He is sad to see Fagin, who was kind to him, hallucinating and even more devastated to hear that Fagin will be executed for his crimes. The film ends with Oliver and Mr. Brownlow returning home to continue their lives, whilst a crowd gather to witness preparations of Fagin's hanging.

Cast

Production

In Twist by Polanski, a bonus feature on the DVD release of the film, Roman Polanski discusses his decision to make yet another screen adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. He realized nearly forty years had passed since Oliver Twist had been adapted for a feature film, and felt it was time for a new version. Screenwriter Ronald Harwood, with whom he had collaborated on The Pianist , welcomed the opportunity to work on the first Dickens project in his career.

For authenticity, all scenes featuring pickpocket skills were choreographed by stage pickpocket James Freedman and magician Martyn Rowland.

The film was shot in Prague, Beroun and Žatec in the Czech Republic.

Differences from the novel

Due to the novel's complex plot, several characters and events were omitted or changed.

The film does not explain where Oliver was raised prior to arriving at the workhouse. Mr. Bumble's role is reduced - there is no mention of him losing his job at the workhouse. Additionally, the characters of Monks (Oliver's half brother) and the Widow Corney are absent, therefore omitting any plot to destroy the locket proving Oliver's identity as well as Fagin and Monks' plan to prevent Oliver from inheriting his father's fortune by having him commit a crime. To make up for the absence of Monks, Fagin and Sikes conspire to murder Oliver - an event which does not occur in the novel.

In the novel, it is left ambiguous as to how Oliver and Mr. Brownlow are related. As in many versions (such as the 1997 Disney version and the 1948 adaptation by David Lean), Brownlow is made Oliver's grandfather, however, unlike in previous versions, this relationship is more implied than explicitly stated.

Due to the absence of the Maylie family, Oliver is not left by Sikes to die during the burglary, rather he is taken back to Fagin's. The Artful Dodger is not deported to Australia and, therefore, plays a larger role in some of the later events in the story. Firstly, like in David Lean's 1948 film, the 1997 Disney version and the 1974 animated version produced by Filmation, he is sent by Fagin (instead of Noah Claypole who appears only in the earlier scenes) to spy on Nancy, indirectly causing her death by telling Fagin and Sikes that she has informed on them. Secondly, it is Dodger (instead of Charley Bates, whose role is also smaller in the film than the novel) who attempts to give up Sikes to the police for murdering Nancy. However, his ultimate fate is left unknown after Sikes' death.

Reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews, holding a 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 143 reviews, averaging 6.3/10. The consensus reads, "Polanski's version of Dickens' classic won't have audiences asking for more because while polished and directed with skill, the movie's a very impersonal experience." [3] Metacritic assigned a score of 65, indicating 'generally favorable reviews.' [4]

A. O. Scott of The New York Times called it a "bracingly old-fashioned" film that "does not embalm its source with fussy reverence" but "rediscovers its true and enduring vitality." He added, "the look of the movie... is consistent with its interpretation of Dickens's worldview, which could be plenty grim but which never succumbed to despair. There is just enough light, enough grace, enough beauty, to penetrate the gloom and suggest the possibility of redemption. The script... is at once efficient and ornate, capturing Dickens's narrative dexterity and his ear for the idioms of English speech." [5]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was similarly positive; he lauded the film as "visually exact and detailed without being too picturesque." [6] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle praised it as a "grounded and unusually matter-of-fact adaptation," continuing, "Polanski does justice to Dickens' moral universe, in which the motives and worldview of even the worst people are made comprehensible." [7]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly graded the film B+ and commented, "On the face of it, Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist is in the tradition of every faithful Oliver Twist ever filmed – a photogenic, straightforward, CliffsNotes staging of Charles Dickens' harrowing story... Yet precisely because this is by Roman Polanski, it's irresistible to read his sorrowful and seemingly classical take, from a filmmaker known as much for the schisms in his personal history as for the lurches in his work, as something much more personal and poignant." [8]

However, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated two out of four stars, calling it "drab and unfeeling" while "lacking the Polanski stamp." He further felt Barney Clark's performance as Oliver was "bereft of personality." [9] Todd McCarthy of Variety echoed Travers' sentiments about Clark, labelling him "disappointingly wan and unengaging," while writing that the film was "conventional, straightforward" and "a respectable literary adaptation, but [lacking] dramatic urgency and intriguing undercurrents." [10]

In the UK press, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian opined that while "[Polanski's] Oliver Twist does not flag or lose its way and is always watchable, the book's original power and force have not been rediscovered." [11] Philip French of The Observer wrote that the film was "generally disappointing, though by no means badly acted," and alleged that it lacked "any serious point of view about individuality, society, community." [12]

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on 24 January 2006. It is in anamorphic widescreen format, with audio tracks and subtitles in English and French. Bonus features include Twist by Polanski, in which the director reflects on the making of the film; The Best of Twist, which includes interviews with production designer Allan Starski, costume designer Anna B. Sheppard, cinematographer Paweł Edelman, editor Hervé de Luze, and composer Rachel Portman; and Kidding with Oliver Twist, which focuses on the young actors in the cast.

Related Research Articles

<i>Oliver!</i> English musical by Lionel Bart

Oliver! is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

<i>Oliver Twist</i> 1837–1839 novel by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family.

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Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist. The Dodger is a pickpocket and his nickname refers to his skill and cunning in that occupation. In the novel, he is the leader of the gang of child criminals on the streets of London trained and overseen by the elderly Fagin. The term has become an idiom describing a person who engages in skillful deception.

<i>Oliver Twist</i> (1948 film) 1948 British film by David Lean

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Mr Brownlow is a character from the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Brownlow is a bookish and kindly middle-aged bachelor who helps Oliver escape the clutches of Fagin. He later adopts Oliver Twist by the end of the novel.

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<i>Oliver Twist</i> (1922 film) 1922 film

Oliver Twist is a 1922 American silent drama film adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1838 novel Oliver Twist, featuring Lon Chaney as Fagin and Jackie Coogan as Oliver Twist. The film was directed by Frank Lloyd. It was selected as one of the best pictures of 1922 by New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Walter J. Israel handled the costuming. Studio interiors were filmed at the Robert Brunton Studios in Hollywood. The film's tagline was "8 Great Reels that make you ask for more. Will Hays says Jackie Coogan Films are the sort the World needs." A still exists showing Fagin training his wards to be pickpockets.

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Charley Bates is a supporting character in the Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist. He is a young boy and member of Fagin's gang of pickpockets, and sidekick to the Artful Dodger, whose skills he admires unreservedly. Bill Sikes's murder of Nancy shocks him so much that at the end of the novel he leaves London to become an agricultural labourer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fagin</span> Fictional character in Oliver Twist

Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities, in exchange for shelter. A distinguishing trait is his constant and insincere use of the phrase "my dear" when addressing others. At the time of the novel, he is said by another character, Monks, to have already made criminals out of "scores" of children. Nancy, who is the lover of Bill Sikes, is confirmed to be Fagin's former pupil.

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Monks (<i>Oliver Twist</i>) Character in Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist

Edward "Monks" Leeford is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists in the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. He is actually the criminally-inclined half-brother of Oliver Twist, but he hides his identity. Monks' parents separated when he was a child, and his father had a relationship with a young woman, Agnes Fleming. This resulted in Agnes' pregnancy. She died in childbirth after giving birth to the baby that would be named Oliver Twist.

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<i>Oliver Twist</i> (1962 TV serial) British TV series or programme

Oliver Twist is a 1962 BBC TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1838 novel Oliver Twist, serialised in 13 episodes. Due in part to its transmission at Sunday teatimes, the production proved to be controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over the brutal murder of Nancy by Bill Sikes in its eleventh episode. The serial has survived intact, and was released to DVD in 2017 by Simply Media.

References

  1. 1 2 "OLIVER TWIST (PG)". British Board of Film Classification . 3 August 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Oliver Twist (2005) – Box Office Mojo". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  3. ↑ Rotten Tomatoes (2012). "Oliver Twist (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster, Inc. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Oliver Twist". Metacritic . Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  5. ↑ A.O. Scott (23 September 2005). "Dickensian Deprivations Delivered From the Gut". The New York Times. The New York Times Company . Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  6. ↑ ROGER EBERT (30 September 2005). "OLIVER TWIST (PG-13)". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  7. ↑ Mick LeSalle (30 September 2005). "Polanski refuses to twist Dickens into tearjerker". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Lisa Schwarzbaum (21 September 2005). "Oliver Twist (2005)". EW.com. Entertainment Weekly Inc. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Oliver Twist". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  10. ↑ "Oliver Twist Review - Read Variety's Analysis of the Movie Oliver Twist". Archived from the original on 18 August 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  11. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (7 October 2005). "Oliver Twist". Theguardian.com.
  12. ↑ French, Philip (9 October 2005). "Oliver Twist". Theguardian.com.
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