A Very English Scandal (Frears, 2018)
Going to the movies as often as I have been this year has meant prolonged exposure to the Oompa Loompa version of Hugh Grant.
Happy as I am that Mr. Grant appears to be enjoying himself, I cannot wait for the Wonka trailers to be in the rear-view mirror.
Much better to appreciate Grant’s new character actor persona as he continues to elevate everything he is involved in, not least this three-part dramatisation of Britain’s Jeremy Thorpe affair which captivated a staid and conservative nation for months in the 1970s.
Written by Russell T. Davies and directed by the great Stephen Frears, A Very English Scandal is three terrific episodes of television:
They all appear to be having a good time, none more so than the Hugh Grant as Thorpe. After spending most of his career appearing to not really care about the films he was making – I once had the deep misfortune to review a film he made with Sarah Jessica Parker called Did You Hear About the Morgans? and for all the world he looked as if he would rather be at the proctologist – but in 2018, thanks to this and Paddington 2, he appears to have his mojo back.
Neither he nor an excellent Ben Whishaw as Scott bear much resemblance to their real-life counterparts, but the film gets the gist of the story correct, even if the light-hearted tone sometimes seems inappropriate for a story that features the unfortunate deaths of two women who came into the Thorpe/Scott orbit (not to mention poor Rinka the Great Dane who was shot and killed in the alleged attempt on Scott’s life in 1975).
Those paragraphs are from my contemporary review at RNZ when it was playing on Sky’s SoHo channel. I failed to make the connection that this is also a Paddington 2 reunion of sorts.
Where to find A Very English Scandal
Aotearoa: Streaming on Prime Video
Australia: Streaming on Prime Video and BritBox
USA: Streaming on Prime Video
UK: Streaming on BBC iPlayer and Sky
Further reading
In New Zealand, the free (ad-supported) streaming service ThreeNow has just had a facelift so I took a look at their (theatrically released) feature film selection – all four of them – for RNZ.
