Andrew Crocker-Harris (Albert Finney), a teacher of Greek and Latin at a traditional English prep school, is called the "Hitler of the Lower Sixth" by his students. His rigidity and cruelty are the sad remnants of an extinguished passion for classical literature. But as he is poised to leave the school--forced into retirement by the headmaster and made ridiculous by the infidelities of his wife Laura (Greta Scacchi)--Crocker-Harris finds his love for learning rekindled by the interest and sympathy of a young student named Taplow (Ben Silverstone), who gives him Robert Browning's translation of Aeschylus' AGAMEMNON as a parting gift. Based on a Terence Rattigan play, THE BROWNING VERSION is a character study that finds pathos in British stodginess and makes a subdued plea for the nobility of teaching. Finney is the powerful center of the film, portraying a man whom time and opportunity have passed by. As humiliations are piled upon his character, Finney registers nothing but silent resignation, even as he ratchets up his stoicism to face the next disappointment.
2.
The Greatest Lessons In Life Are the Ones Learned by Heart.
The Emperor's Club. Dead Poets Society. Stand And Deliver. Film fans fondly recall them as tales of a teacher who inspires his students. The Browning Version Albert Finney, Matthew Modine, and Greta Scacchi star in this richly layered work of truth, tears and triumph. In a widely acclaimed performance, Finney plays a brilliant but stern classics instructor at a posh prep school who is forced out of his job and into the realization that he is despised in the classroom...and at home. Suddenly, the proud academic is adrift...until one student's profound act of kindness gives him the inspiration and courage to build his life anew.
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