DOCTOR JEKYLL
Eddie Izzard as trans CEO Jekyll
15
In cinemas now
A legendary British studio sparks briefly back into life with the release of a new film based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 gothic classic.
“Hammer: A John Gore Company,” screams a blood-red caption in director John Stephenson’s thrilling opening title sequence. Then as monkish chants appear in the bombastic score, a newspaper front page whirls on to the screen.
“Trans CEO Jekyll Accused Of Abuse” screams a headline as we see the figure of Eddie Izzard silhouetted in a window in a ballgown and high heels.
The press release promises “a modern twist” on the classic. And introducing the first trans Dr Jekyll feels like a bold opening move from Hammer’s new owner.
Sadly, once the titles fade it becomes clear there’s nothing particularly modern about Izzard’s boffin.
It turns out Nina Jekyll is the grandchild of Stevenson’s shapeshifting Victorian, and has inherited his pharmaceutical company and a low-budget version of his condition.
She isn’t the only one possibly locked in a battle with base instincts though. Fresh out of prison, and desperately trying to stay straight to win custody of a daughter he’s never met, reformed thief Rob (Scott Chambers) takes a job as a carer and odd-job man at Jekyll’s country pile.
An unspecified condition has left Nina reliant on a cane. But the unfailingly pleasant young Rob can’t quite get a handle on his new boss. One moment, she is polite, the next she is a bit snippy. If only he knew a literary phrase to describe this sort of character...
A restrained Izzard plays both Nina and her less pleasant alter ego Rachel Hyde. As there is no sprouting of hair and claws, there is no need for pricey special effects.
The slow-burning plot limps along (like Nina) until we are drenched in a tsunami of hard-to-follow twists in the final act.
The book, which drew on Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud’s then-hugely controversial theories about psychology and human biology, felt extremely modern in the 1880s.
The 2023 version is so genteel it feels positively Victorian.