Already this year we've witnessed the creation of Winnie the Pooh, in Goodbye Christopher Robin. Now comes the genesis of another celebrated literary character, one Ebenezer Scrooge, as Charles Dickens' fevered mind gives life to the miserly businessman. In doing so, the real Dickens heightened the popularity of the Christmas festival and did more than a little to reforge its image. But his struggle to birth A Christmas Carol in time for December 25th is, much like Pooh's arrival on the literary scene, a darker story that you might expect here.
Dan Stevens (fresh from his Beauty and the Beast success) plays the still youthful Dickens, reeling from a series of flops and trying to revive his early success while bills accumulate. With a manuscript promised to his publisher, inspiration for a seasonal morality tale finally begins to flicker amid numerous interruptions - not least from the author's feckless dad. But it takes a certain nightcap-wearing figment of Dickens' imagination to needle his creativity into full blazing life...
One of this film's most commendable aspects is that it avoids the chocolate-boxy feel you might expect in such a cinematic outing. Yes Victorian era London is handsomely recreated, but it's shot with more grainy realness than Hollywood-ised Dickensian gloss. The storyline has equivalent amounts of grit. Scrooge's creator was a notably complex man and to its credit the movie does not uncomplicate him in the name of Christmas. Dickens, in the face of mounting debt, is plagued by insecurities born of a traumatic childhood, and even his own febrile imagination becomes a torment to him.
Stevens excels in the lead. His Dickens is restless and driven - a wellspring of near-manic creative energy, who entertains and alienates family and friends in equal measure. Morfydd Clark and Justin Edwards are great foils for him as a patient wife and loyal best friend respectively, but his most powerful scenes come from a very different source. Christopher Plummer plays Scrooge himself, one of numerous characters springing fully formed from Dickens' mind to interact with him.
Always a joy onscreen, Plummer plays the bitter, cantankerous Ebenezer of A Christmas Carol's opening chapter. Nor does the movie take the simple route of retelling of Dickens' most famous story, choosing instead to remain tightly focused on the writer. This Scrooge is a malevolent fragment of the author's psyche - an inner demon, who will need exorcising if the novel is to succeed. Their encounters add a refreshing sense of darkness to this Yuletide tale - as do those with Jonathan Pryce (also excellent - no surprise) as the father who Dickens cannot quite forgive.
Inevitably this story moves towards the light - even if the gloom is arguably more convincing. Also those closely acquainted with the novel may notice structural issues with the whole Scrooge plot-line. But this is fascinating stuff nonetheless, never better than when it depicts the coalescing of the story, Shakespeare in Love-style, in Dickens' mind. The man was a troubled genius and this film lands us right in the crucible of his creative imagination. Like the actual story of Scrooge, it's a rewarding journey.
Gut Reaction: Considerably more fascinated than I'd expected, with a Cratchit-type fuzziness by the end. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Ed's Verdict: 7/10. The Man in question is more complex, the film more brooding and adult than you might expect. A Gothic-flavoured Christmas treat.
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