Terence Rattigan's The Browning Version has inspired several films, but the 1951 version with Michael Redgrave remains the classic. Mike Figgis's 1994 remake is every bit as good. Anchored by Albert Finney's heartbreaking performance, it provides a different take on Rattigan's study in disappointment.Andrew Crocker-Harris (Albert Finney) teaches classics at an English prep school, where he's roundly despised by students as a stuffy bore. Yet Crocker-Harris has reason to be upset. His wife (Greta Scacchi) openly elopes with fellow professor Frank (Matthew Modine); the headmaster (Michael Gambon) plans to reassign him to another school. Precocious young Taplow (Ben Silverstone) shows "the Crock" sympathy, with a gesture that moves the intransigent teacher. Crocker-Harris must confront how badly he's wasted his life.
Figgis and writer Ronald Harwood update Browning to the present, with beautiful Dorset settings and minor tweaks to the story. Frank is American in this version, and there's a Nigerian child whose parents are subjected to unintentional condescension. Besides multicultural considerations, Browning also probes changes to education. The school's phasing out classics, with a new professor (Julian Sands) hoping to teach modern languages instead of Greek. Here Crock is less a pedant than an anachronism: who needs classics in this day and age?
This Browning more substantially alters its characters. Crocker-Harris is more sympathetic here: we get flashes of the great teacher he could have been, more remorseful than nasty. Some critics question making the Crock likeable, but this seems as valid an interpretation as a burnt-out bore. Figgis also gives the supporting cast more to work with: Millie seems repressed rather than merely horrible; Frank doubts their relationship from the start; even Taplow gets a subplot dealing with a bully. These changes add welcome texture to the story, elevating it above a one-man show.
Albert Finney gives a remarkable performance, nearly matching Michael Redgrave. Tightly wound in early scenes, he gradually lets his guard down to devastating effect. Finney masters the emotional moments, namely when Taplow's gift inspires an unexpected breakdown. This moment could be overplayed but Finney provides enough restraint to be moving rather than mawkish. Certainly his final speech, though a replay of Redgrave's, hits all the right notes.
Browning's helped by a deep supporting cast. Greta Scacchi is hateful and cold, yet allows room for sympathy: we understand why she fell for Crocker-Harris and her subsequent disappointment. Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket) is callow yet likeable, one of his best roles. Michael Gambon (The Insider) is excellent as the jovial, condescending headmaster. Julian Sands gets the weakest role, largely a sounding board for exposition. Ben Silverstone makes an endearing Taplow and Jim Sturgess plays another student.
Many critics (Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin) consider this Browning Version inferior to the original. Admittedly the substantial changes to Rattigan's characterizations may put some off; why make the "Himmler of the Lower Fifth" sympathetic? But I prefer fresh interpretation of a classic to stiff restaging, and consider this nearly the original's equal.
