A LETTERED SOUL, BOOK 2- MUSINGS ON ART AND CULTURE

TOM WILKINSON- THE THESPIAN, THE GENTLEMAN

There are some thespians who deserve the honorific of Gentleman first.  Tom Wilkinson, the great British performer who defines his on-screen actions with a characteristic aura of dignity, is one of them.

A rare artist among stars, his work is embossed in the cultural landscape of the late 1990s, the 2000s and 2010s. He  is the quintessential Englishman in many notable features and is distinctively different in the layers he brings to each role. Part of the aristocracy and a rarefied class hierarchy, he is the tempestuous father to Jude Law in WILDE, raging against Oscar Wilde's love for his son, not because he is a blatant homophobic but because the antiquated social mores he had learnt all along are too much of a barrier to the human idea of companionship and tenderness between two men.

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He is also the aspiring actor Hugh Fennyman, showing sparks on stage while clearly making others indebted to his financial supremacy,  in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. A delightful blend of naughty self-acknowledgement and talent, art and commerce, one can see him pour out his faculties as a trained performer to this part among a distinguished ensemble cast.

Then in Ama Assante's enlightening BELLE, he is Lord Mansfield, a man of social standing who gives a young girl of colour( a breakout Gugu Mbatha Raw)the space to flower and be sociable, at a time where colonial history and strictures of class are too strong to bear. Anticipation, concern, the knowledge of his own status and central role in determining Belle's future receives a complex pivot from Mr. Wilkinson. As a guardian, he bases his conduct on something above a mere 'white man's burden'

That lingering bulwark of love, responsibility and duty as Mr. Dashwood appropriately defines his screen time in Ang Lee's classic adaptation of Jane Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. His death brings the two siblings Marianne and Elinor an obvious reckoning with truths about the functioning of patriarchy. However, Mr. Wilkinson never suggests a darkening of life's future prospects in his brief presence. The facts of life emerge from his time on the earthly realm.

In these period dramas, the man is unforgettable with his graph.

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A cherubic face, intensity, warmth and an always graceful presence- Tom Wilkinson can juggle all these emotions beautifully.

For me, he is. Never a messenger of the past but of a legacy that has shaped so many memorable cinematic benchmarks for this cinephile. Nobody can perform the duality of authority and compassion like him.

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For me, his crisis of faith as the iconic Father Moore in THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE is the first among other noteworthy feats. So is the ethical and personal maelstrom in the slow-burning domestic interiority of SEPARATE LIES.

I can also never forget him as Falcone in BATMAN BEGINS or that particular scene where feeling almost singed by a toxic gas, his physical reaction masks none of the grotesque, antagonistic force he embodies himself in the screenplay. That compassion, concern and reconciling with truth informs  heartfelt moments as Katherine Heigl's father in JENNY'S WEDDING especially where his love for Elton John intertwines with a point about being 'rebels' and his daughter's identity.

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The upper echelons benefit from a haunting study of loss, interpersonal bonds and individual conscience in IN THE BEDROOM. As Matt Fowler, he is emotionally devastating as a man trapped within the gender expectations and domestic issues only he can truly understand.

To cap it all, his coming out moment and reunion with his true soulmate( Rajendra Gupta) in THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL are unforgettable benchmarks. Graham Dashwood in that film is decent, empathetic and hopeful to the core.

Here's to the man who embodies all that and more.

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