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STUART: A LIFE BACKWARDS

UK, 2007, 90 minutes, Colour.
Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Nicola Duffett.
Directed by David Attwood.

Stuart: A Life Backwards was written by Alexander Masters. Masters encountered Stuart Shorter in real life during his work with the homeless in Cambridge. He became friendly with Shorter, not really understanding the character and his life, but interested in getting to understand him and to use him, with Shorter’s agreement, as the basis for a book. Shorter suggested that the story be told backwards, leading up to the crisis which stole the childhood of Stuart and set him on the path that ultimately led to his death in 2003 at the age of thirty-three.

Masters wrote the book. It was a success. He adapted it for the television screen. It is a very effective screenplay, delineating the characters very strongly as well as exploring the relationship between the two and Shorter’s strange life on the margins of society.

However, Shorter is not a totally pessimistic character. We learn as we travel backwards that he had muscular dystrophy as a child and was bullied. He was abused by his brother and a friend. When he went into an institution, after a period of delinquency when he found that he could be violent, he was again abused. He became alcoholic, lived on the fringes, still had a relationship with his parents, his sister and grandparents, but lived an eccentric life. Intelligent, shrewd, he appealed to Masters who found him an intriguing character and communicates this to the audience. One of the benefits of this kind of film is that it enables the audience to understand how marginalised people tick, the nature of mental illness and its consequences, the drabness of an alcoholic and addictive life and the effect that it has on the character who does not necessarily want to be trapped in this life. The tragedy is that Shorter was knocked down by a train – and one can only speculate whether this was deliberate suicide or an accident.

Benedict Cumberbatch, an aristocratic-appearing actor (Atonement, Starter for 10), brings the middle-class, upper-class approach to life to the screen. Tom Hardy, however, is perfect as Stuart Shorter. It is interesting to note that in Hardy’s own life, he had a period of addiction and alcoholism, reforming completely in 2003 and moving on to an extraordinary screen career which included his tour-de-force performance as Bronson and his role in Inception.

The film shows the capacity for television films to treat subjects seriously, explore character, dramatise themes.

1. The title, getting audience attention, the work of Alexander Masters, his book, the screenplay? Stuart Shorter’s suggestion of telling the story backwards? To discover what killed the child in him?

2. The Cambridge settings, the city, homes and shelters? London and protest? The countryside, the motorways? Driving through England, walking? The musical score?

3. Audience reaction to the homeless, judgment, empathy? The aspects that repel audiences? That arouse audience curiosity? That lead to understanding and compassion, appreciation and sadness?

4. The opening with Alexander’s journey in the car, the end sequence? The framework with the tape and Alexander’s response? Alexander’s life, his family background, writers? His helping out with shelters, his interest, his studies? His generosity with people? Searching for his life vocation? His work in the shelter? The drug dealing by the inmates? The arrest of the supervisors, their trial, condemned to jail? Justice – injustice? His being on the panel, the meeting to support them? Stuart at the back, his intervention? Alexander meeting Stuart, talking with him, befriending him, listening to him, drinking and eating with him? The interviews with his mother and with his sister? The idea for the book? Stuart’s agreement and the story told backwards?

5. The effect of the cartoon sequences and inserts? Their style? Comment on the action and characters?

6. The protest and going to London, Stuart driving, the group, camped outside the office? Stuart urinating on Alexander? The cars, Stuart abusive? The return? The ideas, the notices about protest, Stuart with the television? Stuart and his business sense and ideas – but no fruition? His house, the contents? Tidiness? The talks for people, the audiences, Stuart able to bare his soul? His house, the cooking, Alexander putting the sandwich under the bed? Drinking? His capacity for talking?

7. Alexander and his friends, taking Stuart to meet them, the sequence of the mowing of the lawn, the sympathy, listening to his story – Alexander urging him on because he would only tell aspects on Thursday?

8. Stuart’s story, an adult at thirty-three, discovery that he had a son, his relationship with the young woman, at the age of nineteen, bashing the woman? His grandparents and their concern, Alexander’s visit, their message to Stuart? Stuart’s absent father? His mother, the background? His sister and his concern for her? His brother, his muscular dystrophy, the abuse, the visualising of this in flashbacks? Going to the institution? The abuser – and his being exposed, the newspaper article? His suicide attempts? The bullied boy, the weak boy? His memories – and the effect of the flashbacks? His suffering, arrest for violence, suicide attempts? His explanation to Alexander of his discovery of the power of violence? His rage?

9. His sister, her wedding, his suicide attempts, his death – deliberate or not? The tape for Alexander?

10. The film as exploring the nature and depth of friendship? Unlikely friendships?

11. The effect on Alexander, the experience of sharing Stuart’s life, the book – in the window with The Da Vinci Code?

12. The grandparents, the parents? The funeral and the meeting of Stuart’s life?

13. An English story – with universal impact?