Directed by: Toa Fraser

Reviewed by: Fergus McShane

Price: £17.99

[ratings]

Plot: Set in Edwardian London, the complicated relationship between Fisk Sr. (Peter O’Toole) and Fisk Jr. (Jeremy Northam) takes a metaphysical turn when they attend a lecture about reincarnation and come across the curiously inviting Dean Spanley (Sam Neil).

Review: Based on the 1930s novella by Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dusany, Dean Spanley is an intelligent, funny, whimsical and emotionally moving adaptation. Peter O’Toole in usual good form (and perfect in his role as a lovable eccentric) helps to make the tumultuous father and son relationship nicely sentimental while not becoming an overtly dramatised hollywood cliche. The under-played roles and literary script help drive the film, which comfortably shifts between themes of death and loss through to the fantastical realm of dogs being reincarnated to human form through the ‘Transmogrification of Souls’.

When the pair come across Dean Spanley, Henslowe Fisk Jr. becomes fascinated with the notion of reincarnation. Then over a series of dinner meetings, and a number of bottles of rare sweet wine, Spanley’s apparent similarity to an old pet forces the curmudgeon O’Toole, to re-examine his own past and his relationship with his son.

There are relatively few films released at Christmas that actually have an interesting moral base coupled with clever plotting and sophisticated humour. Most fall for the in-your-face appeal of cheap jokes and obvious characters. It is extremely pleasant then to come across something breaking the mould: an adult fairy tale of fate that takes itself light-heartedly enough to allow for a suspension of disbelief in the characters.

If you missed this in the cinema, Dean Spanley is a delightful piece of film. An eccentric period tale that is hard not to get taken in by.

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