Lucky Jim, based on the novel by Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis
is celebrated as one of the greatest writers, indeed, some say the best comic
writer of the second part of the twentieth century, nominated for three Booker
Prizes and winner of one, his first novel, Lucky Jim, is included on the TIME
100 Best Novels list.
Alas, the
film based on his masterpiece will come as something of a disappointed for the
reader who would recognize little, except for characters, principal elements of
the plot and premises, the humor however is more based on slapstick and situations
rather than the brilliant writing of the glorious Kingsley Amis.
Very few –
indeed, next to zero – critics have paid attention to this motion picture that
has a talented cast, from Ian Carmichael in the title role of Lucky Jim Dixon,
to Terry Thomas aka Bertrand Welch…Sharon Acker as Christine Callaghan may not
be all that convincing.
The original
novel is divine, one of the best books you can read, one of the most amusing to
top it off- it is reviewed here: http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/05/lucky-jim-by-kingsley-amis.html
Jim Dixon is
worried about his tenure at this local university that would not be named,
where his job depends on the aloof, absent minded, often ridiculous Professor
Welch who is very unclear about what he plans to do with the hero.
One day,
the protagonist talks about the visit to the Welch house, but the professor has
forgotten that he wants Lucky Jim to help with the guests that he would have
over the weekend and the entertainment that had been planned.
Music is a
central part of the pleasures offered; only the hero does not have a musical
ear, which is evident when he has to perform against a rather good tenor – this
one of the scenes that seemed a bit melodramatic in the motion picture, whereas
in the original material it is marvelous.
When Dixon meets
Christine and her boyfriend, the son of the professor, Bertrand Welch, there is
animosity, tension, but in the film, the changing in the relationship is not
rendered as in the book.
This is one
of the main shortcomings, if not the crucial one, when adapting for the big
screen a sophisticated, fabulous book, the impossibility of keeping all the
dialogue, the lines, thinking of the characters which gets lost when cut and
simplified.
It is gripping
to see the evolution of the initial tension, clash between Lucky Jim and Christine
Callaghan – in the novel, the hero is confused on the matter of dancing and
refers to a previous lover of the loathsome Bertrand.
The very
young woman – she would complain in a taxi that she is not yet twenty, looks
older and people expect maturity from a youth – appears to be haughty, distant
and somewhat arrogant – with hindsight, we may feel that this is just a defense
mechanism, hiding insecurity and not sufficiently high self-esteem.
The complicated
arrangement at the dance ball could not be shown in the cinema theater, the
adaptation choosing a rather abrupt, forward manner adopted by the heroine,
while in the book there is a different, more complicated development, wherein
Bertrand is actually courting another woman.
In the
novel, the hero can only dream of a goddess like Christine, who is otherworldly,
extremely beautiful, divinely built, but his confusion, inner conflicts are not
on the surface in the film.
There is a
former friendship with the neurotic Margaret Peel, who is the kind of person
that would take advantage of the kindness, generosity of those who try to help
her, going as far as to lie about what had happened to her, pretending she had
been abandoned when she had not been.
What happens
at the Welch house becomes a rather silly series of scenes on the big screen,
while in print, the events are simply hilarious and they carry a romantic
significance, for at breakfast, after an initial froideur, Dixon and the
splendid girl would collaborate.
He had been
drinking the previous night, seeing as the ordeal of staying at the house of
the overbearing professor and his annoying family takes a toll, and when he
went to bed, the hero managed to destroy sheets, blanket and more furniture in
his room.
In an
effort to cover the destruction, at least up to the point where he would be
gone, perhaps without a chance for the hosts to trace to him the damage, the
protagonist shaves off pieces, then asks for help from Christine, who surprisingly
offers it.
“This is the
beginning of a beautiful relationship”, for with ups and some downs, the two
young people discover that they have so much in common, contrary to the initial
encounter that sent sparks flying, and they may have a chance together…
Although the
book is an Absolute Chef D’oeuvre, the motion picture stands far from the
inspiration…
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