Cinema: Masterly Inflections

BARTLEBY

Directed by ANTHONY FRIEDMAN Screenplay by ANTHONY FRIEDMAN and RODNEY CARR-SMITH

Paul Scofield is a precision instrument. His performances are full of small gestures, asides and intuitions that are subtle, telling, always right. He is the master of inflection and implication if not, perhaps, of epic passion, which is why a Scofield Uncle Vanya is more successful than a Scofield Lear.

Scofield is at his most dexterous in Bartleby, bringing extraordinary wit to the rather dreary role of a beleaguered office boss (no name given). The film is adapted from Herman Melville's story Bartleby the Scrivener. Bartleby (John McEnery) is a kind of...