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MovieMail's Review
William Boyd's bold adaptation of his novel for TV explores one man's tumultuous and unpredictable journey through the 20th century. David Perilli is swept along by this tide of talent.
William Boyd adapts his novel of the same name for television, charting the life of an aspiring writer from youthful Brideshead-style hedonism in the 1920s through to bitter memories and dicky tickers in 1980s France. It’s a swirling dream-like charge through Mountstuart’s preoccupations that barely catches its breath as the rousing score carries it along to the next cameo.
Casting three actors – Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen and Sam Claflin – as Mountstuart neatly solves the age issues and also plays into the novel’s own preoccupation with changing personalities. All three impress but the shared mannerisms between Macfadyen and Broadbent as the older incarnations of Mountstuart delight particularly.
It’s staggering how the makers of Any Human Heart manage to squeeze 80 years into four 90 minute episodes. Much enjoyment comes from the great supporting cast playing real-life figures: Gillian Anderson’s hissing Wallis Simpson drips as much menace as mirth! A touching and highly enjoyable TV treat.
Gillian Anderson and Tom Hollander on playing the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Hayley Atwell on 'Freya'
On the set of Any Human Heart
From paper to screen - William Boyd discusses Any Human Heart
Film Description
The complete first series of C4’s adaptation of William Boyd’s novel, adapted for the screen by the author himself, and starring Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen and Sam Claflin as the writer Logan Gonzago Mountstuart through different stages of his life through every decade of the 20th century.
The four films follow Logan from his time in Oxford; through literary market success with the publication of his 'racy' novel 'The Girl Factory'; through numerous affairs and two marriages; one tragic true love; adventures as a spy behind enemy lines; flirtations with Wallis Simpson; encounters with Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming, sexual scandal in the New York art scene; destitution in Pimlico; unlikely heroism to a final and perhaps even contented death. Although it would appear to the outside that his life has been defined by a combination of random quantities of good and bad luck for Logan, if he really looked closely, it has probably been more accurately defined by sex.
This innovative drama charts the history of the 20th Century through Logan, who has the habit of popping up, Zelig-like, at pivotal moments in history, teetering on the brink of immortality before, inevitably, plunging back into obscurity.
