The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More is a 2024 American fantasy anthology film written, directed and co-produced by Wes Anderson, based on four short stories by Roald Dahl. This is the second film adaptation of a Dahl work directed by Anderson, following Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade, and Rupert Friend, all playing different roles throughout.^[1]

The film was released on 15 March 2024.

Plot

The anthology is comprised of four short film vignettes, each one of which is based on the corresponding short story by Dahl.

1. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

2. The Swan

Adapted from the 1977 short story with the same title.

3. The Rat Catcher

The penultimate short film is based on the story The Ratcatcher from the 1953 collection.

4. Poison

Concluding vignette of the anthology is a short film adaptation of the story published in 1950.

The film ends with an original song by Jarvis Cocker titled "Rules For Being a Fictional Writer" being played with the closing titles.^[2]

Cast

• Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, Max Engelman, and Harry Pope
• Ralph Fiennes as Roald Dahl, the Policeman, and the Rat Man
• Dev Patel as Dr. Chatterjee, John Winston, and Timber Woods
• Ben Kingsley as Imdad Khan, the Dealer, and Dr. Ganderbai
• Richard Ayoade as Dr. Marshall, the Great Yogi, and the Editor/Reporter
• Rupert Friend as Peter Watson/Narrator and Claud
• David Gant as Casino Croupier
• Jarvis Cocker cameos as a casino receptionist and several friends of Henry Sugar.

Reception

Roger Moore in his Movie Nation blog gave the film a rating of 3.5/4, concluding with,^[3]

The way Anderson uses the actors, deadpan performances (mostly), narrating in a stacatto style, parked in front of clever settings in varying degrees of surreal “realism,” is almost animation... His style can be grating, especially that self-aware mugging-to-the-camera that he insists on. But here we see its greatest application, deadpan turns played underneath screwball-comedy-speed dialogue...
The real Dahl was a real piece of work. But the work is timeless, and Anderson has rendered it in its most entertaining cinematic form with this short story collection feature film.

References

External links

• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More at IMDb