MovieChat Forums > Breaking the Code (1997) Discussion > Wonderful, but...

Wonderful, but...

posted 17 years ago by henry999-1
4 replies | jump to latest

Derek Jacobi is of course a brilliant actor and his performance here is impeccable. But, I also think that he was seriously miscast in this part. In the '1929' scenes we have a fresh-faced schoolboy and in the '1940' scenes we have a full-blown wrinkly. That jarring disconnect led me to check the history: in 1940, Alan Turing was 28 years old; in 1996, when the film was made, Derek Jacobi was _58_!!! In the '1940' scenes, Alan looked older than his mother -- a situation not helped by casting (the marvellous) Prunella Scales in that part, when in real life she is only six years older than Jacobi. (Turing's own mother was already 31 when he was born.) While I did enjoy the film, I must say that once the 'he's much too old' bug bit me it kept on itching all the way through to the end.

[–] JillyConCarne 17 years ago

Henry, according to this site (http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/btc.html), Derek was recreating a role he originated eleven years before and reprised several times since, so that's probably why he was chosen. I do agree about his aged appearance, though.

[–] JacintoCupboard 9 years ago

The casting is absurd. And while I'm here I'd like to add that I can't agree with Jacobi's performance being 'impeccable'. Now this requires some qualification: I like Jacobi, and as an actor he has a personable quality that makes spending time watching him onscreen a real delight. In something like Last Tango in Halifax he is in his element. But serious drama? I think that boat sailed decades ago and DJ has been mailing it in for ages. He even mines his own body of work here, by tricking up his Turing performance with bits and bobs from I, Claudius. Not nearly enough is delivered from Jacobi in this performance and this is a significant part of why this is such a mediocre offering overall.

[–] StaffanP 9 years ago

I absolutely agree. I have nothing against Jacobi as an actor but he wasn't Alan Turing to me. Also, the age discrepancy you mentioned, Turing was a young man when he went to Bletchley Park, Derek Jacobi was not.

[–] jriley555 8 years ago

my take is to look past the superficiality of age, in favor of the depth of portrayal.

jacobi actually does look somewhat like turing.

it was, after all, a study in character, society & ideas, not some sort of rote reproduction of appearances.