HARD TIMES (1994)

Made on the cheap for an Educational branch of the BBC, Peter Barnes’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ atypically brief, brusque and angry novel receives a minimalist, almost Brechtian, treatment that pays off handsomely. Simple one-color interiors & carefully chosen, almost abstract real locations, encourage the actors to play in a tensely heightened mode that fits the morbidly dark material. There’s no Micawber to lighten this grim fable of industrialized England and non-negotiable class obstacles. It feels more like Emile Zola than Dickens. Production values aside, there’s certainly nothing ‘on-the-cheap’ about the extraordinary cast which includes Alan Bates, Alex Jennings, Richard E. Grant, Bob Peck, the amazing Bill Paterson and Dilys Laye, a fine character actress who’s a ringer for Brenda de Banzie.