James Joyce’s Novella the Dead

Making a great film with such a limited number of scenes may seem to be a hard task for John Huston to undergo, however, one thing that was so successful about of James Joyce’s novella The Dead’s adaptation, was its loyal portrayal of the main couple, The Conroys, in the final scene and in relation to the novella’s depiction. John Huston made sure that the film was loyal in its depiction of Gretta as both the reader and the viewer are unable to see Gretta’s true internal feelings like they are Gabriels. Thus, making Anjelica Huston’s work somewhat harder. However, Anjelica performance as Gretta Conroy was riveting and haunting. The facial expressions used in the final scene transform her fully into a woman who is miserable, “choking with sobs, and, overcome by emotion…” (239). This scene turns the whole film on its head, from a festive and joyful scene, to that which is riddled in despondency, as it does in the novella. Anjelica’s portrayal of Gretta needed to be loyal to the novella in this aspect, as it is what truly enables both reader and viewer to get a glimpse as to why the Conroy’s marriage seems somewhat cold and distant. Anjelica’s performance did the novella justice and she was able to give Gretta Conroy more depth as a character.

 Furthermore, Donal McCann was often able to show Gabriel Conroy’s social awkwardness with lingering looks into the distance as those around him converse, or adopt a stiff figure when guests begin to dance. McCann transforms himself with ease into a man who, throughout the novella itself, acts with a sense of superiority. However, it is in the last scene that McCann truly brings James Joyce’s Gabriel to life. In the final few paragraphs of the novella, The Dead, Joyce describes a somber scene, with Gabriel feeling as though “his own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling” (241). Making sure that this scene in particular was loyal to the novella was paramount in truly showing a man’s world crumbling around him. With the novella’s powerful and poetic depiction of the raw human experience, Donal McCann’s ability to act the part of a man heartbroken by the revelation that his wife was in love with another, a boy long dead, is what elevated the film to the same level as the novella. Therefore, creating a highly emotional and insightful piece commenting on the dead’s continuous influence on the living, and a man reflecting on the difference between living and merely existing.