The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)

7/10

Starring

Dev Patel

Aneurin Barnard

Peter Capaldi

Morfydd Clark

Daisy May Cooper

Rosalind Eleazar

Hugh Laurie

Tilda Swinton

Directed by Armando Lannucci

Dev Patel plays the lead role (David Copperfield) in one of the best books ever written, by one of the best authors there ever was Charles Dickens. The book is considered Dickens best work and the screenplay to which this movie is crafted is done with some slight changes here and there to reduce the gloom and some tweaks in other places to add comedy.

I have to be honest this movie does good enough justice to the book, and the whole spin just makes the experience even more lovely. Patel was way ahead of himself in his role as David Copperfield, his acting was awesome. Then add to that the perfect cast of fantastic actors around him and you are gifted a wonderful viewing time as we watch the life of David Copperfield unfold.

Believing we all already know the story of David Copperfield, here is a summary of what the movie is about.

Set in mid 19^th century, which is the time the book was written. We are introduced to the beautiful Clara Copperfield who gave birth to a young man named David. David’s birth was not at all a welcome news to everyone, especially his great aunt Trotwood (Tilda Swinton) from his father’s side, who was hopping for a girl. She wanted to be a godmother to the girl and train her to despise men as she has. David is cared for and raised by the wonderful Peggotty (Daisy May Cooper) the Copperfield housekeeper. When his father died his mother remarried a cruel man, who mistreated Clara and abused David.

When Clara died, David was forced to work in his stepfather’s factory, after a while he ran away to find his great aunt Trotwood. Recall Trotwood at first did not want to have anything to do with him, but as in the book her character is complicated. She took him in as her ward immediately and sent him to school to be educated as a gentleman.

The adventures of David from this point led him to meet the woman he will marry in Dora and the next antagonist in the second half of the movie (and book) Uriah Heep. His adventures then take him back to the Peggotty’s house hold.

The movie is a critical success and I believe would have been a commercial success, if not that its release was planned but marred by the covid-19 pandemic.

Nonetheless, it is a movie to go look for and see, even if you have not read the book itself this movie will give you a nice insight into what the book is about. I think it will cause you to have interest in reading the book to know how some characters really played out.