"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" (and Three More Shorts) review — Dahl by way of Anderson is a treat
“All rich people of Henry’s type, of course, have one peculiarity in common: a terrific urge to make themselves richer.”
I will never make shy my unfettered love of the films of Wes Anderson. He’s been one of my favourite filmmakers for a while now and, with every passing film he produces, I am further enamoured by the worlds he constructs. I understand that Anderson’s idiosyncrasies aren’t for everyone. He’s frequently brushed off as “twee” or “insincere” because of his dedication to artifice and hyper-specific creative choices. But I can’t help but fall in love with his stage-like sets, his distinctive blocking, and off-beat humour. One of the key reasons why I love Anderon’s movies so much is because I first loved Roald Dahl’s fiction. As a child, I read and had read to me so many of his stories. The Vicar of Nibbleswicke and The Great Glass Elevator remain my two favourites from my younger years. Thanks to films like Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and the quartet of shorts that are the subject of this review, it’s clear that Anderson not only shares this love of Dahl’s work but that Dahl’s sense of imagination has been a major influence of him since the beginning.
Anderson is facing his influence from Dahl head-on with a series of four brand-new short films adapted from the author’s work. They’ve premiered daily on Netflix, with the first releasing on Wednesday, September 27 and the last on Saturday, September 30. They’re pulled from a variety of Dahl’s publications: two are taken from the collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (and Six More) and the other two are based on stories from other books. These shorts are being released off of an already busy year for Anderson with the release of his triumphant Asteroid City this past June. Each brisk and delightful, combined, the four films run for 90 minutes, making it a feature-length endeavour in its own right. These shorts stand strong on their own, but bear some obvious similarities to one another, making them even more engaging in concert. They feature some general visual similarities in their set construction and camera work, utilize the same batch of six key players, use similar styles of narration and performance, and feature Ralph Fiennes as Roald Dahl. Anderson leans heavily into storybook aesthetics, artificiality, and theatricality, giving the shorts a sense of childlike wonder and imagination. For fans of Dahl and Anderson, these four shorts are an absolute must-watch.
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| Richard Ayode, Rupert Friend, and Ralph Fiennes in The Rat Catcher. Photo via Netflix. |
The headlining film in the collection, and the longest of the bunch, is The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is based on a short story of the same name from a short story collection of the same now. Coming in at 39 minutes, the film follows the exploits of playboy gambler Henry Sugar (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) who learns how to see without using his eyes in order to cheat in the casino. There are narratives buried within narratives here, as Sugar learns to perform these abilities from a doctor’s account of a magician’s testimony. Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, Richard Ayoade, and Ralph Fiennes co-star. Not only is it the longest of the bunch, but it is also the most ambitious visually and narratively, covering an expansive globe-trotting narrative.
The other three are far less expansive than Henry Sugar, and each only 17 minutes. The second film, The Swan, the only other short adapted from a story from the Henry Sugar anthology, is led by Rupert Friend who serves as our narrator and the grown-up version of the short’s main character. In this short, a young Peter Watson is tormented by two bullies. We never actually see Peter’s enemies. Instead, Friend’s narrator retells the tale as co-star Asa Jennings mimes the actions with various props. The third short, The Rat Catcher, is about a Rat Catcher (played by Ralph Fiennes) who explains to a mechanic (played by Rupert Friend) and a journalist (played by Richard Ayode, who also serves as the primary narrator). The Rat Catcher’s behaviour becomes increasingly inhuman as it builds towards a gross ending. Lastly, we come to Poison, the final short film in the collection. Set in British-occupied India, the film concerns an English man (played by Cumberbatch) who is trapped in bed by a snake.
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| Ben Kingsley and Dev Patel in Poison. Image via Netflix. |
Each of these films bears the strictest fidelity to the texts on which they’re based, with the characters often repeating Dahl’s words verbatim. Much of the film is narrated by the characters — or by Dahl himself — starring down the barrel of the camera reading Dahl’s original text. It’s such a radically faithful interpretation that its execution feels entirely new. Anderson is pulling a lot from theatre here as well, with thin sets and painted backgrounds. The scenes change with the removal of a backdrop and some styrofoam pieces of set dressing. There are some especially brilliant moments of these sets in action, particularly in Henry Sugar and Poison. I say this with each passing movie, but this collection is probably some of Anderon’s most visually inventive work yet. He further adds to the sense of artifice and heightened reality he’s been toying with his whole career, taking it to a new extreme. And, because of how these stories are narrated, this artifice generates the image of a pop-up book, where the false fronts, fly systems, and stagehands are just instruments in telling a delightful tale.
While many filmmakers have adapted Dahl’s tales for the screen before, Anderson might just be the best to do it. His hyper-specific visual style is the perfect complement to the hyper-specific tone of Dahl’s written words. The diorama-esque worlds that Anderson is known for provide this ideal framework for Dahl’s imagination to run wild, never having to worry about bumping up against reality. The director’s filmic language also provides restraint to the explosive imagination of the stories, providing a grounding for what we see. The craft here is stunning, with so many unique camera tricks and lighting flourishes. Despite how unified they feel in their texture, tone, and pace, each of the four films is given its own set of rules for how the narratives are presented. Anderson is pulling out a whole plethora of tricks to make these short films, making them each feel so well-constructed and interesting to watch.
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| Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Image via Netflix. |
Unlike his other films, the cast of these four short films is relatively limited, despite all of the parts that there are to fill. Where Anderson is known for his expansive ensemble casts, these four shorts share only about six main actors. The performers, each taking on at least two roles in the shorts, are all fantastic. The leads, however, are almost entirely new to Anderson’s, and yet feel like they’re well-schooled in the director’s signature mannerisms. Friend is the only one who had previously worked with Anderson, with parts in The French Dispatch (2021) and Asteroid City. Ralph Fiennes makes a big impression with his thoughtful Dahl persona (who appears in all four shorts) to the hideous Rat Catcher; Dev Patel is strong and confident in his parts in both Henry Sugar and Poison; Richard Ayode’s iconic dead-pan delivery fits the comedy here perfectly; Ben Kingsley adds the strength of a seasoned actor; Rupert Friend is very charismatic and engaging in his twin roles; and Benedict Cumberbatch feels like such a natural addition to Anderon’s world that you’ll wonder why they haven’t worked together sooner.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (and the three other short films) might be Anderson at his most tender and intimate. These films channel the imaginative, comforting Anderson of Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom (2012), creating stories that are compelling and interesting, while also being soft and inviting. The shorts keep the viewer at arm’s length, but that’s always by design. These are a quartet of stories about storytelling, although they’re not burdened quite by the same sense of meta-reflection that is in Anderson’s other more recent films. These four films are ever-delightful and made me so happy to join them in these fantastic tales. Do yourself a favour and find time to enter into the visually immaculate, comedically sharp, and always surprising worlds of Anderson and Dahl this autumn.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher, and Poison are now streaming on Netflix.
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