A Litte Life: Film of stage production featuring James Norton is truly difficult watch but compelling and worthy one

Film review: A Little Life (18)

Starring: James Norton, Luke Thompson, Omari Douglas, Zach Wyatt, Elliot Cowan, Zubin Varla, Nathalie Armin and Emilio Doorgasingh

Director: Ivo van Hove Run time: Three hours, 40 minutes

A Little Life opens with four friends in New York city catching up in an apartment over some food and drinks – if you’re thinking Friends, then think again, as this is about as far from that as you can get.

James Norton, star of Happy Valley and Grantchester, is the physically and mentally scarred, prodigious lawyer Jude St Francis, whose college friends – aspiring actor Willem (Luke Thompson), successful architect Malcolm (Zach Wyatt) and struggling artist JB (Omari Douglas) – are trying to support him but are unaware of the demons from his past.

This near-four-hour play – of the bestselling book by Hanya Yanagihara – filmed live at the Savoy Theatre in London during its West End run is not for the faint-hearted.

I had never experienced a film or play with quite so many content warnings – and with strong language, nudity, sexual violence, physical and emotional abuse, self-harm and suicide all included in the production, it’s easy to see why.

It goes without saying that to see this, you have to be prepared for traumatic things to play out in front of you.

Although this may not sound like a way you would want to spend more than 200 minutes of your life, trust me when I say that in this production, Norton gives a phenomenal performance as Jude which is truly unforgettable.

One moment, he is the young boy captivated by the brothers of the monastery – who betray his trust in the most awful of ways – and the next, he is attempting to deal with that trauma as an adult.

It must have been incredibly physically and emotionally exhausting for Norton to play that part – let alone night after night – and he deserves all the recognition for that alone.

The supporting cast are just as dazzling, with Thompson and Varla in particular putting on incredibly emotive performances as Willem and as Jude’s newly-adoptive Harold, who both just want Jude to be at peace and stop hurting himself.

There may be some who would be concerned that watching a stage play on a cinema screen takes away from the production, but they would be wrong.

Although seeing it play out in front of you in real life would – I’m sure – add another dimension, the silver screen showing allows for nuances that you might not experience in the theatre.

Ultimately, A Little Life was a truly difficult watch but a compelling and worthy one.

By Rebekah Chilvers

Rating: 8/10