"Then, all at once, Henry felt a powerful electricity tingling through his entire body, and there began to come to him an idea that was to change everything."
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a 2023 Short Film (~40 minutes) directed by Wes Anderson and adapted from the Roald Dahl short story of the same name. The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival before a limited theatrical release on September 20 and a release on Netflix a week later. It is the first of several Dahl adaptations by Anderson for the streaming service.
Roald Dahl (Ralph Fiennes) narrates the story of Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) to the audience. Henry is a wealthy bachelor who, by chance, picks up an account by the Indian doctor Z.Z. Chatterjee (Dev Patel) about Imdad Khan (Ben Kingsley), a man who had learned to see without utilizing his eyes after much training. Henry decides to use this method to cheat at gambling and become even richer than he already is. Richard Ayoade rounds out the cast.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Distillation: In the short story, Henry inadvertently angers the mob by scoring well at three casinos owned by the same mobster, and has to recruit a makeup artist to help him come up with various identities. That is trimmed for the film version, and the different disguises/identities are part of the plan from the beginning.
- Adaptation Name Change: Several:
- Imhrat Khan is now named Imdad Khan.
- The doctor who did the writeup on Mr. Khan is named Dr. Z.Z. Chatterjee, while in the original he was named John F. Cartwright.
- Dr. Phillips (one of the three doctors which was with Dr. Cartwright in the break room in the story) is here named Dr. Mitra, likely so that all three doctors have surnames beginning with the letter 'M'.
- Ambiguously Gay: Max Engelman, Henry Sugar's makeup artist, claims to have loved him, though it's unclear whether it's meant platonically or romantically.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Dahl is speaking directly to the audience and looking at the camera while he narrates. In-universe narration is also presented as the actors reading into the camera.
- Disguised in Drag: One of the disguises Henry considers while pondering his gambling/philanthropy plan is a blonde woman in a suit.
- Hermit Guru: The levitating yogi that taught Imdad Khan how to see without his eyes lived deep in the Indian jungle.
- Karmic Twist Ending: Discussed but averted. After we follow Henry ripping off casinos for a while, Dahl shows us a possible ending of this type where Henry looks down at himself as he is cashing his chips and sees the beginning of a disease that will ravage his body with his penetrating vision. Then he decides it's too cruel and trite and Henry decides to do something more magnanimous with his scheme.
- Legacy of Service: The narration mentions that John Winston's father had been the accountant for Henry's grandfather, just as John worked for Henry's father and Henry himself.
- Matte Shot: In keeping with the short's vintage aesthetic, the characters often narrate in front of painted backgrounds, and a scene transition will occasionally have a "stagehand" move these backgrounds away.
- Money to Throw Away: Upon realizing that using one's enhanced concentration to cheat at cards makes the gambling victories meaningless and empty, Henry takes the 30,000 pounds he's won and makes it rain from his balcony, causing chaos down below.
- Nested Story: Imdad Khan's story is told to Z.Z. Chatterjee, which is being read by Henry, whose story is in turn being narrated by Roald Dahl.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: The greedy Henry uses his new nigh-psychic abilities to cheat at cards, only to be bummed because there's no thrill in it:He couldn't understand why he felt so little excitement about this success. If this had happened three years ago, before the yoga, he'd have gone crazy with excitement, he'd be rushing off to a nightclub to celebrate. But Henry didn't feel excited. He felt sad. Every time he made a bet, he'd been certain to win. There was no thrill, no suspense, no danger. He knew he could travel around the world making millions. But was it going to be any fun?
- Riddle for the Ages:
- Dr. Chatterjee never gets to learn what other ways there are to see without one's eyes, as Imdad Khan dies before he can get his answer.
- Henry Sugar is a pseudonym and his real name is kept secret from even his biography on request of John Winston and Max Engelman. We never find out his real name, only that he's a member of a famous British family.
- Swiss Bank Account: A benevolent example. Henry's accountant John moves to Switzerland so he can legally handle the money Henry wins from cheating at gambling around the world, which is in turn used to set up several charitable organizations for children.
- Time-Passage Beard: To show his obsession with reading cards from the back over the next three years, Henry goes from coiffed dandy to having long, unruly hair and an accompanying wild beard. Also, he's just in his underwear.
