There can be few unaware of Dickens’ much loved tale of the boy who wanted more. Countless stage, TV and musical productions have entertained millions, yet this is the first film version in over thirty years. It seems an unlikely choice for Polanski who seems more at home with daring visions like Chinatown than revisiting period favourites like Oliver Twist. However, his richly detailed work is a good match for the densely layered narrative of Dickens. Polanski presents a glistening vision of 19^th century London teeming with characters adrift in a morally challenged, newly industrialised world. In the midst of the misery is orphaned Oliver whose over-whelming goodness has left him unprepared for the badness around him. When he escapes an orphanage, Oliver heads for London only to fall prey to a gang of thieves who are more than ready to pick a pocket or two.

Polanski interprets Dickens with a loyalty that makes for magnetic viewing. His characters leap off the screen with an infectious joy as he translates a picture-book version of ye olde Englande. In fact, so literal is his translation that by cramming every luscious detail from Dickens’ work that he turns the film into paté cinema. It’s rich, it’s delicious, it’s force-fed and, at 130 minutes, makes for a large serving. Too large in fact for a film that eventually buckles under clunky transitions demanded by increasingly erratic pacing. It’s a minor disappointment given this beloved story, in the hands of a beloved director, should have been a masterpiece. Surprisingly, Polanski renders the story safe when it was everything but that.

// COLIN FRASER