The Fool

The Fool is a 1990 British film set in Victorian England's world of finance directed by Christine Edzard and produced by John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin, from a script by Edzard and Olivier Stockman. It stars Derek Jacobi, Cyril Cusack, Ruth Mitchell, Maria Aitken, Irina Brook, Paul Brook and Miranda Richardson. The camerawork was by British cinematographer Robin Vidgeon. Plot Summary The opening credits end with: “This film is dedicated to the anonymous men and women interviewed by Henry Mayhew in London between 1848 and 1861.” The movie's detailed evocation of life in Victorian London drew on Henry Mayhew's vast personal archive of detailed interviews and vivid descriptions, which first appeared in a series of articles in the Morning Chronicle newspaper and were later compiled into the book London Labour and the London Poor (1851). The Fool is based on the thoughts and words of these street traders, beggars, artisans, thieves and performers of London on one hand, and on the letters and diaries of members of the upper classes on the other. The narrative is grounded in the double life of a humble clerk who poses as the reclusive, but widely respected "Sir John." He thus moves in wealthy upper class circles and participates in grand investment schemes while living in a London slum, showing the contrast between the world of the very poor and that of the very rich.