Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

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  September 3, 2008

  freakyfriend2001

  "A Cock and Bull Story is an undeniably rare film. Adapted from the classic novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Stern, one which was considered to be pretty much unfilmable, director Michael Winterbottom has successfully adapted it by making t...( read more)he movie about the very act of making the movie. On paper this sounds like an impossible task in and of itself but it's handled with such skill and shrewd wit that one wonders whether this is the only way this story could ever be told."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  March 31, 2008

  EarthlyAlien

  Tony Wilson: "Why "Tristram Shandy"? This is the book that many people said is unfilmable.
  Steve Coogan: I think that's the attraction. "Tristram Shandy" was a post-modern classic written before there was any modernism to be post about. So it was way ahead of its time a...( read more)nd, in fact, for those who haven't heard of it, it was actually listed as number eight on the Observer's top 100 books of all time.
  Tony Wilson: That was a *chronological* list."
  
  
  
  Said to be an unfilmable novel (and probably rightly so), approaching the film adaptation of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" you'd be forgiven in wondering just how the hell director Michael Winterbottom pulled it off. Well, he didn't... exactly. It isn't that the film doesn't look at both the 'life' and the 'opinions' of Laurence Sterne's titular character, it's more that it rolls it all up into a bite size package of non-linear narrative, film within a film within a film inventiveness, and wry satirical asides which celebrate the originality, humour and post-modern techniques of the original literature. So how do you adapt a selection of books that cannot be cinematised? You don't. You use the books as inspiration for a film that is as unique, as weird, and as funny for a 21st century audience as the books were to 18th century readers.
  
  You've got to praise Michael Winterbottom if only for his willingness to take chances. You've also got to thank him for giving the British film industry an injection of vitality, always producing edgy films that flirt between mainstream and niche, art house cinema. In many ways, he's a modern day auteur, one who works within his own constraints, unhindered by Hollywood sensibilities. Sometimes it doesn't quite work (9 Songs), often it does (24 Hour Party People, In This World, The Road To Guantanomo), but rarely is Winterbottom's dark, cynical outlook portrayed without style and intelligence.
  
  For A Cock and Bull Story Winterbottom takes Tristram Shandy's difficulty in finding meaning in his life, or ability to articulate his feelings in a linear form, and weaves them round Steve Coogan's attempts to portray the character on film. This is all going on while Coogan has to deal with his off-screen relationship issues, the birth of his first child and a crush on his assistant Jennie (Naomie Harris, in a delightful performance), a talky and unabashed film buff who will take advantage of any opportunity to talk about the work of German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The film seemingly taps into the rampant market of reality TV (often resembling Ricky Gervais' "Extras"), providing its audience with a behind-the-scenes look at art imitating life imitating art, with the awkward, surreal comedy of Charlie Kaufmann. Indeed, the film isn't a far cry from Kaufmann's own Adapation - a film he wrote for Spike Jonze about his struggles to adapt Susan Orleans' "The Orchid Thief".
  
  Coogan's portrayal of Shandy is intermittently interspersed throughout the film as he both plays the character and acts as narrator. Fans of the books the film is inspired by shouldn't see the film expecting a glorious, Peter Jackson-telling of an age-old story. In fact, there isn't much of the page that reaches the screen. This becomes a nicely implemented sub-plot with the characters squabbling about what should and should not be in the film. But it's Winterbottom's use of the literature to mirror that of a modern story, where Coogan's fictional representation of himself struggles to come to terms with the birth of his baby, and can't find time for his 'girlfriend' (not his wife as he likes to remind people - played by Kelly Macdonald), that is the main draw. There's an absurd but brilliant moment when Coogan, playing Shandy, is entombed in a free-standing womb as the other characters mock him. It both works as a representation of Shandy's obsession with his own birth and insecurities, with Coogan's feeling of entrapment as an actor, a father, and a public figure.
  
  But the greatest attribute of the film is its two leads. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are superb. Friends in real life, the two British actors play off each other with a comic ease that cannot be manufactured. Brydon's brilliant impression of Coogan's TV character Alan Partridge is one of the film's funniest moments, showcasing in all its glory the self-reflexive attributes of the film. In many ways, it's this self-reflexive, knowingly-cynical, satire that makes the film so appealing, opening with Brydon and Coogan playing themselves in the make-up room as Brydon muses over the colour of his teeth. Later, Coogan complains about the size of heal on his shoes, and while wearing a rather bent latex nose, asks his girlfriend if she would have had a baby with him if he looked like this in real life.
  
  The glorious self-mocking comedy is a staple of both Brydon and Coogan's comic brand, totally lacking in pretension, and works so well in much of their improvised scenes within the film as well as underlying the difficulty in bringing such literature to the big screen. In a sense, their self-mocking behaviour is indicative of the film's irresistible approach to adapting the books - if you can't do them justice, make fun of your failed attempts in doing so. It's unique, it's funny, and it's quite charming.
  
  If anything the film can be too clever for its own good. The non-linear narration of Shandy's story disjoints the linear 'making-of' sections which takes something away from the overall effect. Winterbottom's approach might be too left-field for those wanting a serious adaptation of Laurence Sterne's work. However, it isn't as if he doesn't take the source material seriously, because the film's inspired humour and style are clearly influenced by Sterne's wayward thinking. Further, it shouldn't be forgotten that the component parts of the film add up to a whole that is as weird and interesting as Tristram Shandy himself, and rather than mocking the literature, mocks the filmmakers' attempts to adapt it for the big screen. Naturally, as the film is as digressive as the novel, what can only be described as a loose cinematic version of "The Life and Opinions", is in fact, a celebration of the books, the forward-thinking technique, and of Sterne himself.
  
  In many ways, Winterbottom couldn't have made a better stab at it. He's not only made a very competent film that is both funny and endearing, he's made a story for a new audience. Perhaps that often-used word 'adaptation' should really be 'adaptability'. A Cock and Bull Story is adaptable for an audience pruned on high-concept Hollywood exports. In taking care of that unfortunate problem, he's made sure Sterne's inventive 18th century writing isn't an excluded niche that doesn't fit the mainstream. That, for me, is the film's lasting and most important achievement. That and the fact that it's a hell of a fun to watch.
  
  Steve Coogan: "You're fantastically attractive and your knowledge of German cinema is second to none."

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  January 17, 2008

  DrZeek

  Tony Wilson: Why "Tristram Shandy"? This is the book that many people said is unfilmable.
  Steve Coogan: I think that's the attraction. "Tristram Shandy" was a post-modern classic written before there was any modernism to be post about. So it was way ahead of its time and, in fact...( read more), for those who haven't heard of it, it was actually listed as number eight on the Observer's top 100 books of all time.
  Tony Wilson: That was a *chronological* list.
  
  This is another movie starring Steve Coogan and directed by Michael Winterbottom in which Coogan addresses the camera often to narrate the story. This time it concerns a famously dense novel. However, the narration eventually stops and then we see that most of the movie is about a few days of the crew making this movie and dealing with a number of different issues.
  
  This is similar to 24 Hour Party People, being handled sort of like a mockumentary, but it is also similar to Adaptation, where you have people trying to adapt a book that has been previously seen as unfilmable, so the result is a film that surrounds the efforts of filming this story, while they seem unable to do so, despite the fact that the actual film ends up being similar to the novel they are to film in the first place.
  
  Coogan is once again hilarious. He is already good playing the star of the novel, and then when he must play himself he is even better. He plays himself as an egotistical asshole essentially, worried about being a star, and balancing his private life.
  
  There is also a large supporting cast made up of other British actors that are very recognizable to the right audiences. It all helps that much of the behind the scenes stuff has to be improvised for the most part.
  
  This is definetely not a film for all audiences, filled with jokes that not everyone can get, playing a lot more off wit than some of the more obvious gags and other moments. But this is still a very funny movie.
  
  Steve Coogan: [Steve is hanging upside down in the model womb] How about filming the other way around, the right way up, and then just flip the image?
  Leo: Well, maybe, but I'd have to have a word with Mark about that. I mean, I think he wanted the realism.
  Steve Coogan: He wants realism?
  Leo: Yeah.
  Steve Coogan: Yeah, I'm a grown man, talking to the camera, in a fucking womb!

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  August 20, 2007

  gor41

  Cleverly structured and amusing mixture.

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  August 2, 2007

  binky013

  A brilliant idea with a great effort at staying true to Sterne. I love that they figured out a way to fit in the black page. You know, they talk about it being a book that can't be filmed, and to a certain extent this proves a self-fulfilling prophesy. Still, there's enough th...( read more)at's good about the film to recommend it. And I never get tired of Kelly Macdonald.

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  December 8, 2009

  ColMongol

  I'm still asking myself, 'why did I even bother?' I do suppose that the only thing one could possibly do with this 'novel' is to make a mockular-documentary of it. So for that, fine. But even Gillian Anderson couldn't save this thing. Precisely about the only thing which grabbed ...( read more)me, was the unfortunate accidents of both Uncle Toby and young Shandy. Why, my very own uncle and myself suffered similar accidents to areas of our bodies far too private to mention in the polite company viewing this. Only, our's both involved bicycles, or early variants thereof. Damned devices, really, all gears and wheels and spokes and cogs and chains ... Vile, VILE!!!

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  December 1, 2009

  nedallovem

  
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  October 28, 2009

  samanthaseaotter

  I love Steve Coogan and Stephen Fry and Jeremy Northam is delicious. However, the movie is peculiar to say the least.

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  October 14, 2009

  PattyCsU

  Weird, boring and unfunny.

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  August 6, 2009

  Lemure

  A smart film filmed as a making of documentary about a film of a book. It's brilliantly done with a "Best Of British" cast - Brydon is a standout, but sadly it falls down on tone: it's not that funny, nor is it all that clever. Worth seeing for fans of British comedy, but it's no...( read more)t essential viewing.

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• Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story