Review: Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

This was a movie that was on my list of movies to watch for a quite some time. And after answering the February Tag of the Period Drama Challenge, I felt like I need to watch more Dickens period dramas. Luckily, after they took it down, Netflix's Instant Streaming put Nicholas Nickleby back up again and I was able to watch this without having to buy the movie. So, here's another movie to add to my list of Dickens movies I have seen!

DVD Box Art

Synopsis

Nicholas Nickleby, at age nineteen, has become the head of his family after his father dies. In order to provide for his widowed mother and his sister, Kate, Nicholas pleas with his selfish uncle, Ralph Nickleby, to help them. However, Ralph Nickleby sends Nicholas away to work as a teacher at Dotheboys Hall (a dirty school where the students are mistreated) and though he sets Kate up with a job at a dressmaker, he uses her to get business men to go into business with him.

Characters
There's quite a long list of recognizable actors and actresses in this version of Nicholas Nickleby. If you have been watching period dramas for a while, I have no doubt that you'll recognize at least some people in this list. There are quite a few people from Emma (1996) in this movie.

Actor/Actress	Character	Also Seen In
Stella Gonet	Mrs. Nickleby	House of Eliott as Beatrice "Bea" Eliott
Romola Garai	Kate Nickleby	Emma (2009) as Emma Woodhouse
Tom Courtenay	Newman Noggs	Little Dorrit (2008) as William Dorrit
Christopher Plummer	Ralph Nickleby	The Sound of Music as Captain Von Trapp
Anne Hathaway	Madeline Bray	Becoming Jane as Jane Austen
Jim Broadbent	Mr. Squeers	The Chronicles of Narnia as Professor Kirke
Jamie Bell	Smike	The Adventures of Tintin (2011) as Tintin
Juliet Stevenson	Mrs. Squeers	Emma (1996) as Mrs. Elton
Lucy Davis	Maid (though I don't remember her)	Pride and Prejudice (1995) as Maria Lucas
Edward Fox	Sir Mulberry Hawk	Daniel Deronda as Sir Hugo Mallinger
Nathan Lane	Mr. Crummels	The Lion King as Timon
Alan Cumming	Mr. Folair	Emma (1996) as Mr. Elton
Sophie Thompson	Miss Lacreevy	Emma (1996) as Mrs. Elton
Timothy Spall	Charles Cheeryble	The King's Speech as Winston Churchill

Wooh! That was a long list! Now, onto the characters.

Nicholas and Smike

The story mostly revolves around Nicholas Nickleby, a man of nineteen who suddenly becomes the head of his family when his father dies. Nicholas is a very likable character and I liked him almost instantly. He cares very much for his mother and sister and works hard to make sure they're provided for. He is also a very compassionate character, which shows when he takes Smike, a servant of the Squeer family at Dotheboys Hall, under his wing and cares for him like a brother. He is also an honorable character that is willing to defend the honor of his sister Spoiler and later the honor of the woman he loves End of Spoiler. You can't help but root for Nicholas throughout the entire movie.

Left to Right: Kate Nickleby, Miss Lacreevy, Mrs. Nickleby,
and Smike

Not much is seen of Mrs. Nickleby, but there are some scenes with Kate Nickleby. Kate is shown to be a very quiet girl who wants to work hard to take care of herself and her mother. She gets some unwanted attention from Sir Mulberry Hawk, a gentleman who her uncle wants to enter into business with, but she rebuffs him and is able to keep her dignity; Spoiler in fact, she breaks with her uncle because of his role in the whole incident and the fact that he will not rectify it End of Spoiler. The film also shows that Kate and Nicholas have a good relationship with each other; Nicholas is willing to defend Kate's honor and they talk to each other often. It's really sweet to see the brother/sister relationship. Though she isn't as central to the story as Nicholas, I felt that I was able to get a good sense of her character in this movie.

Mr. Folair performs his dance (finally!)

There is some comic relief in this film in the form of the acting company. After Nicholas and Smike leave Dotheboys Hall, he happens upon a Mr. Crummels, the head of an acting company, who offers him and Smike food and jobs in his acting company. Mr. Crummels, a friendly fellow, takes on both Nicholas and Smike who both become actors. While the acting company scenes weren't necessary to the plot (at least, not very much), it did brighten up the story a little bit and were amusing to watch. My favorite part of these scenes was when Mr. Folair attempts to show Nicholas his dance, but is always stopped by Mr. Crummels (he does finally get to dance at the end). The down side of these scenes was that Mrs. Crummels was portrayed by a male actor: personally, it came off as weird. I think they would have done better with a female actress as Mrs. Crummels.

The Dastardly Mr. Squeers

Now, I should probably mention the villains of Nicholas Nickleby. There are two main sets of villains in the story: the Squeers (the family that runs Dotheboys Hall) and those connected with Ralph Nickleby. Both sets of villains are despicable in their own ways. The Squeers are very violent and abusive to the boys that are placed under their charge. There are scenes where the boys are beaten for no reason by either Mr. Squeers or Mrs. Squeers (which can be difficult to watch). The Squeers even go as far to bring Smike back to them when he ran away and attempt to flog him (Spoilers Nicholas, however, stops Mr. Squeers from the flogging End of Spoilers). However, compared to Ralph Nickleby, the Squeers become more of an annoyance than anything else after Nicholas and Smike flee Dotheboys Hall and their importance diminishes in the second half of the movie.

Ralph Nickleby, no doubt looking at monetary reports.

Ralph Nickleby is the main villain throughout the whole story. It is because of him that Nicholas witnessed the abuse going on at Dotheboys Hall. It was because of him that Kate received unwanted attention from Sir Mulberry Hawk. Spoilers And it is because of him that Nicholas almost lost Madeline Bray, a woman he fell in love with but is nearly forced to marry Sir Mulberry Hawk to settle her father's debts. End of Spoilers Almost all of the problems that Nicholas faces in the story can be linked back to Ralph Nickleby. Ralph Nickleby proves himself to be a selfish, uncaring, and money-obsessed man who has no heart. Spoilers We do see him have remorse towards the end, but there is no redemption in him at that point he meets a very bad end. End of Spoilers

Madeline Bray

But now I just mentioned Madeline Bray (if you skipped the spoilers, then it'll appear as if I'm mentioning her randomly). Madeline Bray is a character that you see briefly in a couple of scenes in the beginning and middle of the movie. She doesn't come into the story until towards the end of the movie (I'd say about 70% of the way through). Madeline Bray seemed to be a very sweet character who works hard to provide for her debt-ridden father (kind of like Amy Dorrit in Little Dorrit). Nicholas takes a liking to her, which causes her some suffering caused by, you guessed it, Ralph Nickleby. I only wish I could have seen more of her, since it seemed like she should have been in the story longer than she was. I haven't read the book, but it seemed like the movie could have developed her character a little more.

Scenery

I thought that the story would have been a little lighter than it turned out to be, but that's okay. Most of the story was of a serious nature, so the scenery and the colors reflect this serious nature of the story (quite a few dark/grayer scenes). The part with the acting company, however, does feature more colors and a happier setting. Most scenes take place in London; a good number of those scenes show the gritter side of 1800s London, so a lot of darker colors were present in those scenes. Dotheboys Hall was always dark, dusty, and dirty, which fit well with the place.

Costumes

It was very hard to tell what era this took place in based on the costuming. The film is very obviously set in the Victorian era, but a lot of the costumes don't really point to a specific time in the Victorian Era. The skirts of the dresses didn't seem like they were poofy enough for any period in the Victorian Era. If I had to guess, I would guess that the story took place in the 1840s or early 1850s (though IMDB says it's the 1850s) due to some of the bodices that the women wore, but again, the shape of the skirt was off. But if it was in the 1840s/1850s, some of the bodices didn't seem right either for the era... So, I guess I'm not quite sure what time period the film makers were trying to go for here...

Music

The music sounds very similar to the 1996 version of Emma. Why? Because both movies had soundtracks composed by Rachel Portman. The music I thought was a little too cheery for the storyline, but then again I like cheery music. There was a light feeling to the music even though the story was serious.

Overall: 3.5/5

I've only enjoyed a couple of Dickens stories, but this is another one of his stories that I enjoyed. The story is more serious, but there was a little bit of satire and jokes to keep the story from getting too dark (but don't get me wrong, there are still some scenes that are difficult to watch: you're not watching Emma here despite the fact that the two soundtracks are similar). I've read that this version isn't as accurate to the book as it could have been, but then I never read the book so I didn't notice it. I wouldn't mind watching this movie again, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to watch it: I think it's more of a "Oh! It's on. I think I'll watch it" kind of movie.

The movie is rated PG for thematic material involving some violent action and a childbirth scene. The movie starts with Nicholas being born and you do see the cord being snapped after he is born. There is another birthing scene towards the end of the film in the form of a flashback, but it doesn't show as much as the first scene. There is violence involved with the scenes with the Squeers (but I elaborated about this above): from what I remember, there wasn't so much blood to cause concern (in fact, I can't remember any blood at all). There is also a scene where Sir Mulberry Hawk gets too fresh with Kate Nickleby, but she rebuffs him and her and her mother leave the scene. I would say the PG rating is appropriate and nothing gets too graphic or anything like that, but if you're still concerned about content, watch it first to judge for yourself: some parts are borderline for content.

Nicholas Nickleby is available on DVD and on Netflix Instant Streaming (for now). It is rated PG and runs for 132 minutes.


This review is apart of the Period Drama Challenge. Come join the fun!