Rent Under the Volcano (1984)

Finney masterclass but a minor work from its director - Under the Volcano review by JO

Set appropriately in Mexico on The Day of the Dead 1938, Geoffrey Firmin, a lonely depressive who has lost his job and whose wife has left him retreats into alcohol to console his sorrows.

A long cherished project for Huston who adapted Malcolm Lowry's acclaimed, multi-layered novel over several years. The resulting screenplay strips the novel of much of its political subtext of Mexico's corruption by Nazi Germany in the run up to WW2 and focuses purely on the character of Firmin, a raging alcohol who deludes himself into thinking he 'drinks himself to sobriety'. A slowly paced drama which struggled to sustain my interest (particularly a result of showcasing such a dislikable, self-absorbed character). However, Finley's performance as the drunken diplomat is astonishing. He really inhabits the character of Firmin, manifesting his mannerisms and tics so credibly that it alone is worth watching. Jacqueline Bisset as his caring wife, Yvonne, delivers a good supporting performance.

The direction is solid but fairly casual. Huston elects not to use innovative camera techniques, or flashbacks , in order to let the acting tell the story. Thankfully, Finley is more than capable of doing that with such a barnstorming performance. But even so it does become quite tiresome as a film lasting 2 hours. Worth watching for Finney as possibly the greatest performance of a drunk ever filmed.

A film that is both interesting and annoying, fascinating and flawed - Under the Volcano review by Philip in Paradiso

In 1938, Geoffrey Firmin (Albert Finney) is a former British consul to Mexico, who lives in a small town in the country. His wife, Yvonne (a radiantly beautiful Jacqueline Bisset), has deserted him for a year and he is depressed. He spends all his time drinking to drown his sorrows and his feeling of failure: he seems to be on a perpetual bar crawl across town. The story line develops from there.

It is a good film in many ways, which re-creates the atmosphere of 1930s provincial Mexico very well, although it feels a bit like a tourist brochure at times. Much of the acting is very good - Albert Finney is at the centre of the film and is a convincing drunkard. The last 20 mins of the film are memorable. But there is something unsatisfactory and annoying about the movie. For a start, G Firmin is a repellent character in many ways: he feels sorry for himself and is egotistical in the extreme, pretending to lead a tragic existence when he is merely pathetic. Some of the dialogues feel contrived, with vaguely pseudo-romantic views of the world, but this does fit in with the historical period, in some ways. Mostly, not that much actually happens until the climax, i.e. the last 20 to 30 mins.

The film is about 2 hours long and quite slow: we mostly watch G Firmin, the central character, drinking, getting drunk, eating, talking, pontificating, drinking some more, and walking about. In some respects, I felt I was watching a play rather than a film, or a play that had been filmed rather than a novel that had been adapted to the silver screen. This has probably to do with the theatrical way that G Firmin, the lead character, expresses himself, which is largely deliberate in terms of the story. G Firmin, his misfortunes and the story around him felt more typical of the 19th century than of the 20th, to me: this is Mexico before 1940 but it could be Spain c.1830.

An interesting film based on an interesting novel, but not a masterpiece, in my view, but still worth seeing, if only for the last 30 mins. It takes a certain stamina to get there, however.