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Reviews
Bloom (2003)
Nice but still awaiting a great Ulysses film
Joyce's 'Ulysses' is the record of a single day (16th June 1904) in the lives of three characters in Dublin - Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus and Bloom's wife Molly, and deals with their actions, inner thoughts and relationships. The day itself was meant to be unexceptional it actually commemorates Joyce's first date with his girlfriend, Nora Barnacle. In the manner of such records it does not follow traditional plot structure. This of course does not mean the book is unfilmable. Quite the contrary in fact - we have seen the video diary become increasingly ubiquitous and there is a recent fashion for films that trace interlocking lives through short periods of time.
Additionally Joyce himself in his novel employs all kinds of innovative cinematic techniques with flashbacks, dissolves and close ups (Joyce was very interested in film and actually opened Dublin's first cinema in 1909, but he was a better writer than a businessman).
Joyce hoped Eisenstein might film his book and perhaps the ultimate film of 'Ulysses' is yet to come, but in their own very different ways Joseph Strick with Ulysses (1966) and Sean Walsh with 'Bloom' have done the job for two successive generations.
However the book - arguably the 20th century's English literary masterpiece - has an iconic status that may prevent a filmmaker departing too widely from the text. In 'Bloom' Sean Walsh, plainly a lover of Joyce, has been anxious to follow the text as closely as possible and also to create a period drama that has the genuine look and feel of the time. But while a film that remains so faithful to the text may satisfy an audience of keen Joyceans it will mystify those who have not read the book.
Although the day in question is a century ago the book actually ranges over a plethora of surprisingly modern topics: sexual relationships including adultery, the power of the press, publicity and advertising, popular culture and music, nationalism and political cynicism, alienation, racial and ethnic prejudice, technology and consumerism - to name but a few.
To my mind Joseph Strick's 1966 film, which is very new wave - right down to its minimalist score - and which treats the story in 'modern dress' with modern setting (for the time) had a contemporary look and feel that allowed the audience to reflect that the topics pursued were every bit as relevant to them as to the actors on the screen. By contrast 'Bloom' plays as a nice historical drama but one that is about as relevant to our own lives as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Ultimately the greatest film of Ulysses will come when the filmmaker attempts not verisimilitude but instead works from a script that will be 'freely adapted from Joyce's Ulysses'. That day will come when Joyceans and the Joyce estate permit. But after all it is worth reflecting that Joyce's book is itself but a free adaptation of Homer's original.