THE STORY – Ian Charleson is widely known as the real-life star of “Chariots of Fire.” Its piano-led ubiquity in pop culture follows the Scottish actor everywhere, making him yearn less for Hollywood and more for his theatre roots. When Daniel Day-Lewis walks off stage as Hamlet at London’s National Theatre, the role of a lifetime appears for Charleson — but so does an AIDS diagnosis. Dream and nightmare collide as Charleson strives to command the stage and survive as long as possible.
THE CAST – Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman, Billie Piper & Johnny Flynn
THE TEAM – Simon Stone (Director) & Stephen Beresford (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 104 Minutes
One night in London, Daniel Day-Lewis made the news by walking out in the middle of a performance of “Hamlet,” claiming to having seen his father’s ghost. This created the opportunity of a lifetime, quite literally, for fading actor Ian Charleson, then known only for his role in the Best Picture winner “Chariots of Fire.” Charleson, portrayed with tremendous bravura by Andrew Scott, is battling AIDS and views the opening as one final chance to do the thing he loves the most. These admittedly familiar themes are at the heart of the new film “Elsinore,” which just had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival to a rousing reception.
“Elsinore” opens with the fateful moment in which Day-Lewis leaves the National Theatre in London. Charleson is stuck in Hollywood hell, playing terrible parts in terrible films from terrible scripts. Those around him are dying of AIDS, including the film director Derek Jarman (David Dawson), who gave Charleson his first film role and resented the actor’s failure to come out as HIV+ and his decision to take on heteronormative roles like that one in the 1981 Best Picture winner that made him famous. The worst part of his existence, without question, is having to persistently listen to the famous jingle from that film—and probably the audience’s most dreaded anticipated moment in Simon Stone’s film, too.
Thankfully for Charleson and the audience, a call soon comes in from Richard Eyre (Johnny Flynn), who wants to direct him in “Hamlet.” Charleson’s friend and unofficial nurse Patsy (an amusing Billie Piper) is supportive. Still, when the dreaded KS finally appears on Charleson’s body—right on his face, no less—the ante is immediately upped for the dedicated actor. Soon, one of the other closeted gay men in the production sends him to Doctor Margaret Johnson, one of the only doctors actually caring for gay men and others with HIV (Charleson’s current doctor washes his hands obsessively after interacting with him). Johnson is portrayed by a staid and mostly under-utilized Olivia Colman, and she vehemently opposes Charleson’s participation in such a dreary and taxing enterprise. Charleson, of course, is persistent.
At one level, “Elsinore” is a familiar movie; one might even call it a 90s movie, about HIV, about acting, and about, yet again, Hamlet. The themes are familiar and even hokey. For Charleson, there is no point in living a lot; the point is to live well, or quality over quantity, as he puts it. Dr. Johnson is in the business of preserving life. Charleson is in the business of bringing joy to eat, of bringing glee. As those around him succumb to the disease, Charleson finds camaraderie in his fellow actors but also the other patients. The lines you expect from the famous Shakespeare play are sprinkled in the moments you would expect. “To be, or not to be.” “To die, to sleep. No more.” And so on.
On another level, however, “Elsinore” works and delivers in spades. It is elevated by Scott’s committed, brave, and heart-warming performance, a beautiful score by Stefan Gregory, and solid editing by Valerio Bonelli. Scott has to, and does, convince the audience that he is a dedicated actor playing a dedicated actor; it is difficult not to overact this role—particularly for someone who himself is known as a brilliant Hamlet—and Scott manages to do this almost to perfection. One may say this is Scott’s career best, though “All of Us Strangers” fans may rightly object to that characterization. In any event, it is a must-see. His relationships with his parents, his nurse, and his friends provide additional, if expected, powerful moments in the film. The ending may also be anticipated, but that does not mean it is any less powerful when it does arrive.
Another way to see these familiar themes is as timeless and immemorial. Artists, including or perhaps especially performance artists, love to remind us that art is synonymous with life for them. That they must act; it is akin to living—anything else is death. As Charleson puts it—he would rather die of Hamlet than die of AIDS. That line, perhaps more than any other, encapsulates this film entirely. One can laugh at the simplicity of that moment in the script. Or one can let themselves go into that simplicity and the message it embodies. Movies have been telling us for all eternity that the entire point is to feel, to experience the art—emphatically, to be; there is no other option, and there is no question.
Who can blame the dedicated artists behind this project for revisiting these ideas through the life of someone who once ran so close to the top, then faded into obscurity, and then succumbed unfairly to one of the most tragic episodes in our community’s history? So many great films, after all, including many of late, are built upon edifices of clichés. The successful ones, like “Elsinore,” simply manage to convince you that you want to live through these ideas again.
If “Elsinore” sometimes follows the exact cues you would expect, it does so with such reverence for the life force that animates both theatre and cinema that resistance is either futile or pointless. Stone’s film may be built from recognizable, even old pieces, but Scott gives them life, pain, and death. By the end, the film has earned its unabashed sentimentality, reminding us that cliché only becomes a problem when it is empty. Here, it is anything but.
