Street Style

Dean Spanley will make the producers of Botox an absolute fortune; those who see it will have a crinkled brow throughout while trying to understand what the hell it is actually about…

An excellent form of compensation for newly-acquired wrinkles is watching the magic between the stellar cast. Sam Neill, Peter O’Toole, Jeremy Northam and Bryan Brown click together in a wonderful meshing of masterful acting and gleeful nuances.

A co-production between New Zealand and the UK, fledgling director Toa Fraser has bravely taken on an adaptation of the 1936 classic book “My Talks with Dean Spanley” by Lord Dunsany. This ambitious film kneads together the fantastical and ye olde English society.

Set in 1904 England, the story centres on the gradual interlocking of past and present lives shared by the four leads. O’Toole plays Fisk Snr, a cantankerous and selfish old man and Northam plays his son, Fisk Jnr, who visits him every Thursday. On one particular visit, father and son attend a talk given by a visiting swami on the ‘transmigration of souls’, or reincarnation.

Fisk Jnr is fascinated to see an Anglican church Dean (Sam Neill) in attendance and asks him to dinner in order to discover why. The Dean is only enticed by the promise that his favourite tipple, Imperial Tokay, a very rare wine produced by the Hungarian royal family, will be provided for his consumption.

Enter Bryan Brown’s character, Wrather, a courier of sorts who somehow manages to acquire the liquor on more than one occasion.

Over the ensuing dinners, Spanley’s past life is slowly revealed under the spell of his favourite elixir. An incredible connection is discovered that brings around a great emotional catharsis to all involved.

Bryan Brown’s over-the-top Aussie accent shatters the reserved manner of the other characters and the wicked gleam in his eyes is enhanced with every close up.

Sam Neill is his usual calm self, letting loose only when he escapes to his Tokay-inspired reveries.

Peter O’Toole is one of those rare actors who can spellbind you with his eyes, no matter how rheumy. The confidence and ease with which he embraces his character is a sounding board for the other three thespians.

So, if you want to see the magnificent Peter O’Toole parry with Northam, Brown and Neill, prepare to be rather bemused but quite contented with the ending.