The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar: Wonderful story of Benedict Cumberbatch continues with his new act as Henry Sugar

There is this bit of trivia about Benedict Cumberbatch’s persona that true-blue fans would be aware of. His eyes are known to change from pale blue to golden green depending on the light, a rare genetic condition defined as sectoral heterochromia. It is a quirk that adds to Cumberbatch’s charisma and, coupled with a voice which journalist Caitlin Moran once described as a “jaguar hiding in a cello”, has rendered a signature edge to the actor’s image as an artiste, whose name in the credits of any project prompts you to look beyond the obvious.

Benedict Cumberbatch fans can look out for the unusual once again when the actor returns this week in The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, a film that drops digitally everywhere. If the actor’s mainstream stardom largely rests on roles that package his versatility with an eccentric twist — think Doctor Strange or his interpretation of Sherlock Holmes — the promise of the uncanny about his new release becomes evident when you look at the two primary creators associated with the project. Wes Anderson directs the film based on Roald Dahl’s short story of the same name. This is the second time Anderson takes a Dahl work to the screen. In 2009, the filmmaker’s adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox, a popular work by the author for children, fetched two Oscar nominations. For the record, The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar is the first of a four-film project Anderson adapts from Dahl’s short stories, the three to follow are The Swan, The Ratcatcher, and Poison.

For Cumberbatch, a screenplay based on a Roald Dahl story for grown-ups would seem the perfect platform to flaunt flexibility as an actor. Dahl’s world of writings for adults, typified by the one he sets up for protagonist Henry Sugar in his short story, is where the wry meets the witty, and irreverence marks the interplay between the mystical and dark realism. In turn, Wes Anderson wielding the megaphone on a Dahl tale makes the project a match made in heaven. The filmmaker is known for a distinct style, evident in past films as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Unusual storytelling blends with a characteristic play of bright colours and deadpan humour on Anderson’s canvas, as the director mixes slow motion and POV shots while capturing ensemble casts that portray understated melancholia.

With The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson keeps it short — with a runtime of around 39 minutes in order to justify the impact of Dahl’s magical brevity of the tale. Typically, he puts together an ensemble cast. While the film flaunt the star power of Benedict Cumberbatch, you have Ben Kingsley and Dev Patel, too, with Ralph Fiennes essaying Roald Dahl. For peculiar novelty, Anderson has his primary actors essay peripheral characters, too, beyond the main roles they portray. There are reasons beyond some inspired acting by the cast that accounts for an early Oscar buzz for the film in the Best Short Live-Action Film category, though there’s always Cumberbatch, too, for a third shot at an Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category, after The Imitation Game and The Power Of The Dog.

Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar is a compulsive gambler who one day reads a report by a medical practitioner, Dr Chatterjee (Dev Patel), about an unusual patient the latter met in India. The patient (Ben Kingsley), self-proclaimed as “The Man Who Sees Without Using His Eyes”, could see even after his eyes were medically sealed and his head wrapped with bandage. The man claimed he had a lifelong passion for magic and studied the art from a yogi in India, which gave him the power to see through thin objects as paper or playing cards. He could also see beyond a thicker object as a door if he put a finger around it. Sugar decides to meet the man and learn from him the trick of seeing without using eyesight, so that he can cheat to win at gambling.

Henry Sugar was always a role that would let Benedict Cumberbatch score, in sync with his career choices defined by unconventional roles. If Anderson’s breezy narrative maintains Dahl’s mood of a morality tale centred on the importance of imagination in life, the backdrop lets the actor give a delectably whimsical performance. He tops his act with a ditzy edge while adding a hint of ‘rich guy’ loftiness the role demands.

This is not a one-man show for Cumberbatch, though, for you would be delighted watching Ben Kingsley, too. Besides, this film is also about Anderson being in his elements while bringing alive Dahl’s genius. But just as Doctor Strange in Marvel’s overwhelming universe, Benedict Cumberbatch makes Henry Sugar’s world his own, managing to glow amidst an illustrious assortment of talent. Watching the actor as Henry Sugar does remind you of Doctor Strange. You realise all over again few actors can render glamour to arrogance as Benedict Cumberbatch does. As Doctor Strange, he repeatedly tries using sorcery to alter future and fate. He tries to do similarly as Henry Sugar, too, when he sets out to use magic to win as a gambler.

If magnetism is a quality inherent in Benedict Cumberbatch as a public figure, the actor has also used the trait to bring alive emotions on screen with a unique twist. He utilised screen presence to augment a sense of agony in his titular portrayal of the artist Vincent Van Gogh in Van Gogh: Painted With Words (2010) just as the trait added a deceptive, evil edge to his role of the plantation owner William Ford in 12 Years A Slave (2013). In Danny Boyle’s filmed play Frankenstein (2011), Cumberbatch’s 10-minute shot of the birthing of the beast is often regarded as a career high point while his forceful rendition of the title role in BBC’s Shakespearean adaptation The Hollow Crown: Richard III (2016) brings alive the medieval monarch’s deranged hunger for power.

Henry Sugar ranks up there with these roles, though his latest act would fall a tad short of the three acts that truly define Benedict Cumberbatch’s class. The tragic genius Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, the brutal but clever cowboy Phil Burbank in The Power Of The Dog (2021), and the mercurial Sherlock Holmes as he portrayed the character in the TV show Sherlock (2010-17), are often cited as reasons that have given the British actor a cult fan base. At 47, the artist in him continues to age well.

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and journalist who loves to write on popular culture.

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