Saving the Eccentrics

It probably took as long to hunt down a cinema in the West of England that was still showing Saving Mr. Banks in the first few days of 2014 as it did to watch the film itself - but it was definitely worth it. 

Apparently we weren't the only ones who had waited a bit late to attempt to view it on the big screen though and the Plymouth Arts Centre (a really friendly independent cinema and art gallery) was so full I had to sit away from my family - not that they missed me as, I was told afterwards, they could hear me laugh loudly and recognisably when Mrs. P. M. Travers, played by Emma Thompson, entered the Hollywood hotel room filled to the bursting with Disney merchandise and uttered the most derisive, 'Oh dear.'.

My first conscious Emma Thompson experience was watching her on the Jonathon Ross show discussing Stranger than Fiction which was about to be released. I knew who she was, having no doubt watched some of her extensive works previously, but this was the first time she made an impression; an impression which has grown and grown into something bordering on awe.

She is as well known for portraying more 'eccentric' characters - such as the reclusive and difficult author, Karen Eiffel, in Stranger than Fiction; her own creation, Nanny McPhee; Professor Trelawney in the Harry Potter films - as she is for her moving portrayals of many period drama favourites such as Elinor Dashwood in the 1995 production of Sense and Sensibility (for which she also wrote the screenplay). There aren't many actors who can successfully and convincingly pull off such a breadth of characters equally well but Thompson is definitely one of the few that can; she finds that perfect balance between the amusingly peculiar and the credible and relatable.

She is master of comic timing both on and off screen (Charlotte in The Boat that Rocked or any of her interviews, for example, on the Graham Norton Show discussing Saving Mr. Banks - from 4m20s in here), of pathos (Maggie in Peter's Friends, a lesser known but wonderful film also starring Imelda Stuanton, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Kenneth Brannagh, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery) and of incredible characterisations (The Queen in the Playouse Presents TV drama, Walking the Dogs).

I had already formed all these opinions of Thompson when I convinced my family to come to the cinema with me in those first few January days. Yet somehow, I came away from Saving Mr. Banks even more in awe of her. I knew nothing of Mrs. P. M. Travers, creator of Mary Poppins, and the story behind the transforming of a very successful book into one of everyone's favourite Disney Films, but have been inspired to find out more and am very much looking forward to Mary Poppins, She Wrote by Valerie Lawson becoming available again in our local library. I laughed (loudly, you may recall), I cried (don't tell anyone), I took Tom Hanks' sugar-coated portrayal of Walt Disney with a pinch of salt and I came away with the following conclusion: She's the best. Emma Thompson is the best actor out there, the best at plying her trade - and no other actors (male or female, for why would I judge them separately?) even come close. (And I'm not the only one! See here. )

What more can I say than that, except, maybe, to leave you with the phrase she utters as Karen Eiffel in Stranger Than Fiction:

"Well, Penny, like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method."

Images: Upper right - Emma Thompson and Queen Latifa in Stranger Than Fiction; Middle Left - Emma Thomspon after hand and feet casting for Hollywood Walk of Fame; Bottom - cast of Peter's Friends