The Easy Men French Movie Copy of Mel Gibson Movie
| The Professor and the Madman | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | P. B. Shemran |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Kasper Tuxen |
| Edited by | Dino Jonsater |
| Music by | Bear McCreary |
| Production |
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| Distributed by | Vertical Entertainment |
| Release date |
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| Running time | 124 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million[1] |
| Box office | $6.2 million[2] |
The Professor and the Madman is a 2019 biographical drama film directed by Farhad Safinia (under the pseudonym P. B. Shemran), from a screenplay by Safinia and Todd Komarnicki based on the 1998 book The Surgeon of Crowthorne (published in the United States as The Professor and the Madman) by Simon Winchester. It stars Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Marsan, Jennifer Ehle, Jeremy Irvine, David O'Hara, Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Dillane, and Steve Coogan.
The film is about professor James Murray, who in 1879 became director of an Oxford University Press project, The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (now known as the Oxford English Dictionary) and the man who became his friend and colleague, W. C. Minor, a doctor who submitted more than 10,000 entries while he was confined at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Crowthorne after being found not guilty of murder due to insanity.
Shot in Dublin in 2016, the film became part of a legal battle between Gibson and Safinia against Voltage Pictures, delaying its release until 2019 and resulting in the pair disowning the final product.
Plot [edit]
In London in 1872, William Chester Minor, a retired United States Army surgeon, chasing down a man named George Merrett, thinking that he is someone else sent to kill him. Despite Merrett making it to his home, Minor shoots him to death right as Merrett's wife opens the door and witnesses the murder along with her eldest daughter. The police arrest Minor, who is horrified to realize he killed an innocent man. During the trial, despite the prosecuter's best attempt to pain Minor as a cold-blooded killer, the judge declares Minor criminally insane and has him sent to Broadmoor.
In Oxford, James Murray interviews for a position as editor of what will become the Oxford English Dictionary. An autodidact, he left school at 14 and has no degree. Some Oxford University Press oversight committee members are contemptuous, but Freddie Furnivall describes their current "abject defeat," saying that the extraordinary Murray may be what they need. When Max Müller haughtily asks for qualifications, Murray reels off the long list of ancient and modern languages in which he is proficient[3] and on demand provides a definition—and probable origins—of the word "clever".
Over dinner with the committee, Murray hears opposing views. Müller insists that the book capture English at its current "purest peak" and setting strict rules for correct speech. Furnivall says that "all words are valid in the language. Ancient or new, obsolete or robust on, foreign born or homegrown. The book must inventory every word, every nuance, every twist of etymology and every possible illustrated citation from every English author. All of it or nothing at all."
Murray has a solution to this daunting task: Enlist volunteers from everywhere English is spoken. He writes an appeal to English-speaking people around the world, asking them to send their contributions on slips of paper. Booksellers, librarians and newsagents distribute it. The slips pile up.
Meanwhile, Doctor Brayne receives Minor, who is tormented by flashbacks to the American Civil War. While transporting prisoners back to their rooms, the iron gate malfuntions, and a guard is pierced in the leg when he kicks a prisoner out of the way. During the other guards attempt to free him, Minor is hit with a moment of lucidity, and rushes forward to take control of the situation. Using his skills as a surgeon, he is able to successfully amputee the man's leg without too much blood loss. This saves the man's life and earns him the respect of the other guards. It also brings him to the attention of Broadmoor's head doctor, Dr Brayne. He asks that most of his army pension be given to Eliza Merrett, his victim's widow. Muncie, a guard, delivers it personally. Still grieving her husband and full of anger toward Minor, She refuses. Dr. Brayne promises to protect him from his pursuer, gives him room to paint and allows him his library of rare books.
Eliza turns to prostitution but is almost killed by an angry client. Muncie brings Christmas dinner to the family, and is asked to join. He later tells Eliza that her children don't have to suffer and that there is nothing wrong with accepting the money. She asks to see Minor and decides to accept his support. Seeing Minor continue to struggle, Muncie and the guards give Minor a book that they hope to help. Unknown to anyone the book contains one of Murray's appeals. When Minor read it, he is struck with awe and takes this as a sign. Minor tells Brayne that he will be "all right" with this work and more books. After transforming his room into a makeshift file room and library, Minor submits 1,000 slips to Murray and offers to take on the most elusive words, giving his address as "Crowthorne". The correspondence between Minor and Murray continues.
Eliza returns to thank Minor. He says his life belongs to her and she should not give her life to him. As Eliza continues to visit Minor, she learns to forgive him, seeing that he truly is ill and never meant to kill her husband. However, her eldest refuses to forgive him and acts cold toward Minor when she and her siblings are brought for a visit.
Murray arrives at Broadmoor unannounced, bringing a fascicle to Minor believing that he is a staff member. Murray eventually sees the shackles but is not daunted. "You are not alone—consanguineous", he says. Brayne encourages his visits.
Minor offers to teach Eliza to read and write. "It is freedom", he says. Brayne has hope, but one day Eliza kisses Minor. That night, crying "I have killed him again in your heart", Minor suffers another break from reality and cuts off his penis, sends his library to Murray and withdraws, sending even Murray away. During another series of flashbacks, it is shown that Minor was forced to brand a soldier on the face, the same soldier Minor described to Brayne, for acts of cowardice. It is implied that this event was what trigged Minor's insanity.
Vol. 1 is published. Murray receives an honorary doctorate from Oxford and Jowett and Gell plot to remove him.
A newspaper publishes an article about the madman and the dictionary. Murray rushes to Broadmoor to find Minor unresponsive. Eliza brings him out of it.
Jowett tells Murray that he will soon lose his post, but Furnivall reassures him: He has some "tricks" for Jowett and Gell.
Eliza asks Murray, "If I've forgiven him, why should they go on punishing him?" They get a hearing, where Eliza appeals to the judges, talking about her husband and how he would be saddened to learn what Minor was going through. While her speech does moves many, and convinces her daughter to finally forgive Minor, the judges still rule that Minor cannot be released as the fact is Minor still killed a man during one of his periods of insanity, and that there is no guarantee he won't do it again. Desperate and seeing Minor's further decline, Furnivall and Murray appeal to the home secretary, Winston Churchill, who has Minor deported to back the United States to be placed under the care of his family. Murray comes to say goodbye. Furnivall has a copy of the dictionary's new cover, bearing a royal seal of patronage, granted to "Dr James A. H. Murray". "The fortunate thing about these awful people is they believe in the divine right of rule ... So we use it against them. Your book is safe, James. You are safe at its helm ..."
"Now? Now Dr. Murray is the dictionary," Jowett tells Gell, suggesting he take a trip.
The film ends with Murray and his family in the garden,[4] over text that describes the fates of the professor, the madman and the book.
Cast [edit]
- Mel Gibson as James Murray
- Sean Penn as Dr. William Chester Minor
- Natalie Dormer as Eliza Merrett
- Eddie Marsan as Muncie, a guard at Broadmoor
- Jennifer Ehle as Ada Murray, Murray's second wife, mother of their 11 children
- Jeremy Irvine as Charles Hall
- David O'Hara as Church
- Ioan Gruffudd as Henry Bradley
- Stephen Dillane as Dr. Richard Brayne, alienist in charge at Broadmoor
- Steve Coogan as Frederick James Furnivall
- Brendan Patricks as Winston Churchill, Home Secretary
- Laurence Fox as Philip Lyttelton Gell
- Aidan McArdle as Defense Attorney Clarke
- Adam Fergus as Alfred Minor
- Anthony Andrews as Benjamin Jowett
- Lars Brygmann as Max Müller
- Olivia McKevitt as Clare Merett, Eliza's daughter
- Shane Noone as George Merett, Eliza's husband
Production [edit]
French director Luc Besson handed Mel Gibson the project, saying, "It isn't my first language. Maybe you can do something with this".[5] Gibson, who originally intended to direct, hired his Apocalypto co-screenwriter Farhad Safinia to replace him, while he remained in the role of James Murray. Sean Penn entered early talks to join the film as William Chester Minor in August 2016.[6] In August, Natalie Dormer signed on for a role.[7] In September, Ioan Gruffudd joined the cast.[8]
Filming commenced in Dublin in September 2016.[9] [10]
Legal issues [edit]
In July 2017, Gibson and his production company Icon Productions sued the production company Voltage Pictures over their desire to control certain aspects of the production. Among other things, it was alleged that Voltage Pictures refused to schedule a "critical" five days of filming in Oxford and that the director was denied final cut privileges.[11] [12]
On June 19, 2018, Judge Ruth Kwan of the Los Angeles County Superior Court denied Gibson's motion for summary adjudication.[13] The multiple lawsuits were the subject of a confidential settlement in April 2019. Gibson and Safinia issued statements distancing themselves from the project and calling the version released by Voltage "a bitter disappointment".[14] They did not participate in the promotion of the film. Safinia was not recognized for directing or co-writing the film, being credited instead under a pseudonym, "P. B. Shemran".[15]
Release [edit]
Theatrical release in markets outside the U.S. began in March and April 2019. In January 2019, Vertical Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film.[16] The U.S. release date was May 10, 2019, with simultaneous limited theatrical release and video on demand.[17]
Home media [edit]
The film was released in the United States through Vertical Entertainment on digital download on May 10, 2019, and DVD on August 13, 2019, by Lionsgate Films.[18] [19] It was released through the movie rental company Redbox on Blu-ray Disc.[20] It was widely released on DVD in the United States on the same date.[21]
Critical reception [edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 41%, based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10.[22] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100, based on five critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[23]
Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com gave the film 1½ out of 4 stars, calling it "the latest fiasco in bad movie history... the presence of Gibson and his co-star Sean Penn give the project a stuffy sanctimoniousness."[24] Likewise, Jay Weissberg, reviewing for Variety, was more critical and stated: "For those that have been anticipating this curious, much-delayed oddity, the good news is that Gibson is fine; it's everything else that doesn't work."[25]
In contrast, Tara McNamara, writing for Common Sense Media, said that: "Despite the fact that both the star/producer and the director have disavowed it, this isn't a bad film; it's beautifully shot and sensationally acted, and it tells a fascinating real-life story."[26]
References [edit]
- ^ Maddaus, Gene (22 September 2017). "Judge Denies Director's Bid to Seize and Destroy 'The Professor and the Madman'".
- ^ "The Professor and the Madman (2019) – Financial Information". The Numbers . Retrieved 15 August 2019.
- ^ The list available in the Wikipedia article on Murray.
- ^ Murray's wife, Ada, vanishes abruptly in the kind of shot that might be used to suggest that she had died. In fact, she outlived her husband by many years, dying in 1936 at the age of 90.
- ^ The Professor and the Madman, Interview and link to offical [sic] trailer , retrieved 30 June 2021
- ^ Jaafar, Ali (2 August 2016). "Sean Penn In Early Talks To Join Mel Gibson In 'Professor And The Madman'". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ "'Game of Thrones' Star Natalie Dormer Joins Sean Penn, Mel Gibson in 'Professor and the Madman' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ Lodderhose, Diana (30 September 2016). "Ioan Gruffudd Joins Mel Gibson & Sean Penn For 'The Professor And The Madman'". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ "Braveheart Mel returns to the screen as a Borders teacher". Border Telegraph . Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ Barnes, Julie-Anne (18 December 2016). "Mel Gibson plays a Scot in new film but won't face ridicule for accent this time". Daily Record . Retrieved 27 February 2017.
- ^ Maddaus, Gene (1 August 2017). "Mel Gibson Sues Voltage Pictures Over Final Cut of 'Professor and the Madman'". Variety . Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ "Mel Gibson Sues Producer for Sabotaging "Labor of Love" Film". The Hollywood Reporter. 31 July 2017. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
- ^ Gardner, Eriq (20 June 2018). "Mel Gibson Loses Court Bid to Reclaim Rights to 'Madman' Film". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ Patten, Dominic (6 April 2019). "Mel Gibson On 'The Professor & The Madman' 'Disappointment' & Legal Battle". Deadline . Retrieved 4 August 2019.
- ^ Barfield, Charles. "'The Professor And The Madman' Trailer: Mel Gibson & Sean Penn Star In Film That Has Been Involved In Real-Life Legal Drama". ThePlaylist.com . Retrieved 8 February 2019.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (14 January 2019). "Mel Gibson's 'The Professor And The Madman' To Get Theatrical Release Via Vertical After Legal Fight". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ Barfield, Charles (26 March 2019). "'The Professor & The Madman' Trailer: Bearded Mel Gibson & Sean Penn Write The Dictionary". The Playlist . Retrieved 26 March 2019.
- ^ "The Professor and the Madman digital". Blu-ray.com. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ "The Professor and the Madman DVD". Blu-ray.com. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ "The Professor and the Madman Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ "Professor and the Madman, the". smile.amazon.com . Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- ^ "The Professor and the Madman (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ "The Professor and the Madman Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ Allen, Nick. "The Professor and the Madman Movie Review (2019) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com . Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ Weissberg, Jay (11 April 2019). "Film Review: Mel Gibson in 'The Professor and the Madman'". Variety . Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ "The professor and the madman". Common Sense Media. 11 May 2019. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
External links [edit]
- The Professor and the Madman at IMDb
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Professor_and_the_Madman_(film)
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