Upon Closer Inspection

I have a pile of "backlogged" television shows and movies I'd like to watch, longer than I'll ever get through. And yet still, somehow, I'll find myself with a couple of hours to watch something and find that nothing sounds quite good. So I'll let somebody's algorithm guide me to a suggestion. (One example: I've found that Movielens.org has me pegged rather accurately.) That was how I came to watch a movie I'd never even heard of before, An Inspector Calls.

In 1912, a wealthy British family is hosting a dinner party to celebrate the engagement of their daughter. The merriment is interrupted by police inspector Goole, who arrives to question them about the suicide of a young woman. Each member of the family, it's revealed, had some connection to the poor woman, and may have contributed to her decision to take her own life.

Since I hadn't heard of An Inspector Calls before sitting down to watch it, I was unaware of its considerable pedigree. Originally, it was a stage play written in 1945 by J. B. Priestley. The play's critique of the "haves versus the have-nots" has maintained currency for decades, with theater companies worldwide staging versions. Filmed adaptations have been fairly common too, from a 1954 film to a 1982 mini-series to versions in other languages (such as a 2015 Hong Kong film).

From the synopsis I've read of the play, this version of An Inspector Calls that I found changes little -- only opening up the flashback structure of the tale to make the story more cinematic than a one-act play set in a single room. It feels like the right choice, because while the specifics of the story may be dated (it's set now over 100 years in the past), the themes remain topical. Put simply, it probably just felt like time to tell this story again, time to assemble a new cast to tell it.

And they assembled a very good one. The version I happened upon was a BBC television adaptation mounted in 2015, starring David Thewlis as the titular inspector. In the way of so many British casts, there are faces you'll recognize from all sorts of other places. Miranda Richardson is the one you'd most likely know by name, though you've possibly seen Ken Stott as Balin in The Hobbit films, Kyle Soller in Andor (or Bodies), Sophie Rundle in Peaky Blinders or Bodyguard)... the list keeps going.

The story is quite heightened, to the point of seeming artificial at times. You might well expect this of a period piece, and certainly could expect it knowing that it's based on a stage play. Still, I mention it since the performative whims of the characters did occasionally take me out of the moment. Plus, there's a final twist in the story that I personally didn't feel added much to the well-articulated central themes: we're all connected, and you never know what other people are going through. Then again, it may well be this final twist that lifted up the original play among so many written decades ago to keep in people's minds and hearts to today. I did enjoy the message overall, and again, I found the acting to be top-notch.

I give An Inspector Calls -- this version of it, at least -- a B. If you like a proper British "upstairs/downstairs" story, or the cast seems intriguing to you (or both!), you might consider it.