American Psycho director Mary Harron has made a portrait of Salvador Dalí in his sunset years; all moustache and megalomania, it stars Ben Kingsley, a formidable screen presence whose actorly manner is perfect for the role of a man who grandiosely talks about himself in the third person. “Dalí abhors spinach!” The cleverness of Kingsley’s performance is the twinkle in his eye that leaves you wondering whether Dalí has disappeared entirely up his own myth. How much of the eccentricity is a put-on, brazen self-publicity to maximise sales?
Disappointingly, the script invents a fictional art school dropout to be our guide to Dalí’s universe. This is James Linton (newcomer Christopher Briney) a wide-eyed young gallery assistant in New York sent with an envelope stuffed full of cash to the pay the bill at Dalí’s hotel.
