Wes Anderson adapts Roald Dahl’s story for Netflix in his own unique style, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley.
With a production that is reminiscent of both theater and children’s books, Wes Anderson delivers an excellent adaptation of this story by Roald Dahl, which was written for teenagers at the time.
But this is not a story for young people, unlike “Fantastic Master Fox,” also by Roald Dahl and brought to the screen by the filmmaker in 2009. Here the famous Henry Sugar from the title is played by Benedict Cumberbatch in a role that fits wonderfully.
The Russian doll-style adventures of Henry Sugar, narrated by Ralph Fiennes, begin in India while Dr. Chatterjee (Dev Patel) observes with amazement the special talent of ‘Imdad. Khan (Ben Kingsley) can see without the help of his eyes. And since the secret of this power was recorded in a notebook found by Henry Sugar, he puts this extraordinary gift to good use… in the casino.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, available on Netflix. Photo provided by Netflix
We won’t reveal more so as not to spoil the pleasure, but we do know that the particularly successful 39-minute medium-length film is followed by “The Swan”, “The Pied Piper” and “Poison”, other short stories by the British writer, which are translated into pictures became such a likeable sort of Wes Anderson.
The pleasure is total, the production and format chosen by Wes Anderson do wonderful justice to Dahl’s work. And remembering that Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company for $686 million in 2021, we can only hope that the filmmaker repeats with all the magic that characterizes his cinema (and yes, it is better than Asteroid City!).
Rating: 4 out of 5
“The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar” is currently available on the digital platform Netflix.