The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Image credit: Film-book.com

I remember one writing an essay for uni about the various ways that filmmakers can tell captivating stories and deliver an immersive cinematic experience despite the confines of a designated timeframe. The details of the essay are lost to time, I was only reminded of it this morning after watching a very cute and quirky short film from Wes Anderson: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.

Based on the short story by Roald Dahl, the short tells a lovely story about Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) a rich and greedy man who discovers the means to see without his eyes. Using this talent for gambling, Henry quickly discovers the hollowness of accumulated wealth and determines to use his talents to bring some good to the world.

During the pandemic Taika Waititi and a bunch of friends, including Benedict Cumberbatch, recorded a zoom meeting storytelling session in which they sat about and read James and the Giant Peach out loud, complete with character voices and sound effects from various items from the house and garden. If you’ve not seen it, you can find it on YouTube and I would recommend it because it so lovely and wholesome.

Watching The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar reminded me a little of Waititi’s little story time. It’s a short film that celebrates the oral tradition of storytelling with the added modern joy of theatre. Aware of their own narrative nature, the characters tell the story as though they are reading it from the page, with comically deadpan delivery while stagehands are rushing about behind them changing the backdrop from jungle to London apartment. One would think that this would really disrupt the flow of the film, but because it’s a Wes Anderson movie the weirdness that sits behind the visual gags and painful symmetry within the mise-en-scene becomes rather delightful.

Image credit: rollingstone.com

Sitting at a just over half an hour, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar uses this gorgeous combination of oral storytelling and theatrical reenactment to tell a full and inspiring story that could easily fill 2 hours. It’s an Oscar-winning example of the concentrated power of oral storytelling that has been merely enhanced by theatre and playacting. The obviously cardboard sets rigged to slide away when a change of scene is required are a) a great exhibition of talent and b) bring an added celebration of the power of human hands and humanity’s achievements in storytelling.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and it’s not hard to see why. Anderson’s signature quirkiness mixed with Roald Dahl’s whimsy is a match made in Heaven and this short film that celebrates two of humanity’s strongest modes of storytelling is a delight.

Director: Wes Anderson, 2023

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Kinsley, Dev Pateel, Richard Ayoade, Jarvis Cocker, & Ralph Fiennes