Under the Volcano (DVD)

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According to the blurb on the back of this Criterion DVD, Albert Finney delivers "an Oscar-nominated tour de force" as a drunkard. Consider yourself duly warned. And, yes, it´s every bit as bad as it sounds.

Director John Huston had a penchant for filming "unfilmable" books such as "Moby Dick" (1956) and James Joyce´s "The Dead" (1987). His bullheadedness was admirable but his efforts generally provided proof the "unfilmable" novels become unwatchable films. Malcolm Lowry´s "Under the Volcano" was yet another challenge to the stubborn director to take on in his twilight years. Lowry´s book is a 600 page tale of the final day in the life of British Consul Geoffrey Firmin. Completed in the mid-40s it soon became a hugely popular underground novel; it has since moved well above ground, placing 11th on the Modern Library´s list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century in 1998.

Huston apparently identified closely with Firmin, a former gentleman now in rapid decline, whiling away his days getting piss drunk in a Mexican village. For the role of Firmin, Huston chose Albert Finney who had played his share of alcoholics and recovering alcoholics previously. Geoffrey is definitely not in recovery; in fact, he devotes every minute of his waking life to staving off sobriety so that he can "find his balance" in the bottom of a bottle.

Finney holds nothing back. He stumbles, rumbles, and bumbles his way through the streets of his village, roaring at everyone who wanders by, his jowls flaring like a race horse´s nostrils and his body shaking from head to toe. Geoffrey is a loud drunk, but a friendly one and he is well-liked by the locals. I have no idea what Geoffrey is like when sober because he never is. Geoffrey drinks, then drinks some more, then takes some time off to look for another drink, then gets himself composed enough to go out to a bar for another drink. It´s like watching Peter O´Toole´s vacation videos, but nowhere near as funny.

Geoffrey has surely been drinking since he was a wee lad, but his latest months-long binge is prompted by his desire to reunite with his estranged wife Yvonne. This proves that even a drunk has moments of clarity because Yvonne is played by Jacqueline Bisset who, at age 40, looks as gorgeous as she ever has. After Geoffrey mumbles a half-hearted, less-than-half-remembered prayer at a village shrine, Yvonne does miraculously return. An even greater miracle: she wants her red-nosed lush back. So miraculous that you have to wonder if it´s just part of Geoffrey´s drunken delirium.

This prompts Geoffrey to… drink some more, and keep on drinking. Along with the young adventurer Hugh (Anthony Andrews), they parade around town enjoying the sights of the "Day of the Dead" festival, a none too subtle foreshadowing of Geoffrey´s rapidly arriving fate. Yvonne tries her best to charm Geoffrey back, but he is unable to forgive her for a past betrayal, though it´s more accurate to say he is unable to choose her over the bottle, despite the fact that she never once even suggests that he stop drinking.

As you might expect from the setting, the film has a carnivalesque atmosphere to it, with more than a few touches of Hemingway thrown in for good measure. Hugh even leaps into a bullring to serve as a matador at one point. There are also dwarfs, transvestites and even other Englishmen to be found scattered about the countryside. Geoffrey, like a good drunk, remains unsurprised by anyone and anything he encounters.