Dev Patel, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Laurie, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Peter Capaldi, Rosalind Eleazar, Tilda Swinton
Opening this year’s BFI London Film Festival and following impressive early reviews at Toronto, The Personal History of David Copperfield is the much-anticipated new film from master satirist Armando Iannucci (BBC’s The Thick of It, HBO’s Veep, The Death of Stalin), a period comedy co-written with his frequent collaborator Simon Blackwell.
Dev Patel gives a fantastic performance as the titular hero – leading a starry, diverse ensemble cast including Ben Whishaw, Hugh Laurie, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Peter Capaldi, Rosalind Eleazar and Tilda Swinton – in this hilarious take on one of Dickens’ best-loved novels, a semi-autobiographical tale following Copperfield’s vivid life from early youth through to middle age.
A story of immense compassion, humour and optimism, Iannucci’s irresistible, brilliantly realised adaptation proves him to be ‘a perfect match for the ups and downs of the Dickens wordsmith’, delivering another ‘buoyant and incredibly funny crowd-pleaser’ (The Guardian).