Neil Young's Film Lounge

Neil Young’s Film Lounge – Bartleby

BARTLEBY

7/10

USA 2001 : Jonathan PARKER : 82 mins

Herman Melvilles 1853 tale Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street about a self-effacing clerk who exasperates his boss by responding to nearly all requests with a terse I would prefer not to – is routinely described as unfilmable. But this hasnt stopped plenty of people from having a go: according to the Internet Movie Database, previous attempts include a 1970 79-minute British feature (starring Paul Scofield), a 2000 Australian short, and no fewer than three French versions – 1957 (for television), 1978 (with the incomparable Michel/Michael Lonsdale) and 1993 (34 minutes).*

Details of the French and Australian films are sketchy, but the British movie is relatively well-documented Time Outs Tony Rayns commented that [it] betrays Melvilles enigmatic story by updating it to present-day London and anchoring its mysterious ambiguities in all-too-prosaic realities. Jonathan Parker attempts a similar trick with his big-screen Bartleby, which stars David Paymer as the unnamed Boss and Crispin Glover as Bartleby.

The action is again updated to something approximating the present day, though there’s something off-kilter about the time-frame: the gaudy colours of the dcor and costumes nod back to the seventies, while the films fleeting (and somewhat botched) special-effects matte shots allow us to glimpse a nightmare-California landscape of freeways crisscrossing a hilly terrain, each peak crowned with an ugly, futuristic office block.

And Parker isn’t afraid to anchor Melvilles ambiguities in prosaic realities turning Bartlebys workplace into an exaggerated nightmare of a dysfunctional modern office (even worse than David Brents), populated by entertainingly dysfunctional workers (Glenne Headly, Maury Chaykin, Joe Piscopo). While Bartleby the Scrivener is a blackly comic but fundamentally very dark, Parker generally plays his version for laughs this mostly works just fine, including an inspired farce sequence involving a photocopier and a Hoover. When things turn serious, however, the film starts to lose its way and feel over-stretched. The ending isn’t at all strong – though coming up with a decent finale was always going to be the major stumbling-block in filming this material.

Parker essentially takes Melville as a launching-off point for a journey into oddity that constantly seesaws between stylisation and mannerism, but does manage to establish its own engaging character and tone. Crucial to this is the interplay between the painfully withdrawn Bartleby and his benign but worrisome boss. Glover is reliably good value in yet another of his trademark offbeat roles, but the real star of the show is Paymer though Oscar-nominated back in 1992 for Mr Saturday Night, his profile isn’t anything like as high as he deserves.

Bartleby, which didn’t get much of a US release (and had to wait more than two years for UK distribution) probably won’t do much to raise his status. But it should: this is an outstanding performance one of the years very best. His brilliantly funny but ultimately touching portrait of mounting desperation single-handedly prevents Bartleby from spiralling off into a dayglo cul-de-sac of sub-Lynchian kookiness.

15th February, 2004
(seen 8th February : Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne)

*This Gallic fondness for Melville later resurfaced in Leos Caraxs Pola X, loosely based on Melvilles late, Hamlet-inspired novel Pierre, or the Ambiguities.

by Neil Young

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