Under The Volcano

Under The Volcano

Under the Volcano is a 1984 drama film directed by John Huston and starring Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, and Anthony Andrews, based on Malcolm Lowry's semi-autobiographical 1947 novel.

The consul drinks. He has been drinking for so many years that he has arrived at that peculiar stage in alcoholism where he no longer drinks to get high or to get drunk. He drinks simply to hold himself together and continue to function. He has a muddled theory that he can even “drink himself sober,” by which he means that he can sometimes find a lucid window through the fog of his life. “Under the Volcano” is the story of the last day in his drinking.

He lives in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in the years just before World War II. He is not really the British consul anymore: he was only a vice consul, anyway, and now that has been stripped from him, and he simply drinks. He has a few friends and a few acquaintances, and his long days are spent in a drunk’s neverending occupation, monitoring his own condition. On this morning, for example, he had a bit too much and passed out in the road. One of those things.

Earlier, or later, sometime in there, he had stumbled into a church and prayed for the return of his wife, who had left him. Now he sits on his veranda talking with his half-brother. He turns his head. His wife is standing in the doorway. He turns back. It cannot be her. He looks again. She is still there. Turns away. It cannot be. Looks again. A hallucination. But it persists, and eventually he is forced to admit that his wife has indeed returned, in answer to his prayers.

 

He drinks. He passes out. He wakes. The three of them set off on a bus journey. A peasant is found dead on a roadside. Later, in a bar, there is an unpleasantness with a whore. Still later, the day ends in a ditch. The consul’s day is seen largely through his point of view, and the remarkable thing about “Under the Volcano” is that it doesn’t resort to any of the usual tricks that movies use when they portray drunks. There are no trick shots to show hallucinations. No spinning cameras. No games with focus. Instead, the drunkenness in this film is supplied by the remarkably controlled performance of Albert Finney as the consul. He gives the best drunk performance I’ve ever seen in a film. He doesn’t overact, or go for pathos, or pretend to be a character. His focus is on communication. He wants, he desperately desires, to penetrate the alcoholic fog and speak clearly from his heart to those around him. His words come out with a peculiar intensity of focus, as if every one had to be pulled out of the small hidden core of sobriety deep inside his confusion.

The movie is based on the great novel by Malcolm Lowry, who used this day in the life of a drunk as a clothesline on which to hang several themes, including the political disintegration of Mexico in the face of the rising tide of Nazism. John Huston, the sure-footed old veteran who directed the film, wisely leaves out the symbols and implications and subtexts and just gives us the man. Lowry’s novel was really about alcoholism, anyway; the other materials were not so much subjects as they were attempts by the hero to focus on something between his ears.

The movie belongs to Finney, but mention must be made of Jacqueline Bisset as his wife and Anthony Andrews as his half-brother. Their treatment of the consul is interesting. They understand him well. They love him (and, we gather, each other). They realize nothing can be done for him. Why do they stay with him? For love, maybe, or loyalty, but also perhaps because they respect the great effort he makes to continue to function, to “carry on,” in the face of his disabling illness. Huston, I think, is interested in the same aspect of the story, that within every drunk is a man with self-respect trying to get free.

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The sense of foreboding that comes from life in the shadow of volcanoes sets the scene for Under the Volcano. It begins as a tragic but innocuous introduction of a former British Consul General suffering alcoholism and the collapse of his personal and professional relationships in Mexico during the late 1930s. Quickly the story devolves into a dysfunctional mélange of suspicion, hallucination, and self-destruction. The collapse of the Consul General's marriage following an affair (implied in the film) between his wife and his journalist half-brother, has poisoned the Consul General's view of his relationships with both them, and with the outside world. The alcohol eases his tremors only because the poison is now part of him, just as is the strychnine which was prescribed as a "cure" to the alcoholism. The presence of poison, of foreboding, of episodes of death and destruction in the past and future, are colored by vague intimations of the Spanish Civil War and the expanding toxicity of Nazism. Miss Bisset’s portrayal as Yvonne is heartbreaking: she is robbed of her agency to seek redemption and offer consolation and care to her estranged husband in the face of his paranoia. This effort to redeem herself ultimately contributes to her own tragic end, against which she is helpless despite her determination. The film culminates in the only way possible: a confluence of sin, violence, distrust, and disillusion. It is the poison that kills main characters, relationships, and potentially nations. Under the Volcano is fascinating, if jarring, in its attempts to chart this poisonous path with interwoven plot points. Viewers would be well-warned to find an ethical grounding before embarking on this tragic journey.

Tony Ganzer, Writer, Broadcaster, Author of Kneading Journalism, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)

The film Under the Volcano, an adaptation of Malcolm Lowry’s novel, is a film that, from its beginning, creates a death cult that curiously is the end of its two main protagonists Geoffrey and Yvonne who die, just like their love, at the same moment. This cult of death is made from the references to Mexican culture, which has a quite unique and different way of honoring death and its ancestors. Although the Mexicans, as seen in the film in Cuernavaca in 1938, continue to preserve this festival that makes the first week of November a few days during which the spirits are believed to return to us, just as Yvonne returns to Geoffrey. Through tributes and offerings, November in Mexico becomes a month in which death is a reason for remembrance and celebration; yet, it is not a reason for sadness as it is represented in other places in the world. The fact that the death of these two main characters is permeated by all these elements of Mexican culture and their unique and special Day of the Dead gives it a unique touch and generates memories both with those who read the novel and with those who see the movie.

Maria Paula Mayor Losada, Master of Science in Global Affairs Candidate, New York University (Colombia)

Under the Volcano is a deeply engrossing and painfully haunting film with brilliant performances by Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, and Anthony Andrews. I was captivated by this troubling story of a former British Consul played by Finney who has become an alcoholic and is desperate to reconnect with his ex-wife, Bisset, in a transcendent character portrayal. I longed for him to escape the grip of alcoholism and find his way back to his best self and to the love of his life, but it is not to be. Ultimately, he cannot give up his addiction for a last chance at life and love. Set in the late 30’s, the tragic ending feels like a warning for what is to come as Germany brings the world into a second major war.

Susan C. Riker, MA, ACC, Leadership Coach and Consultant, Washington, DC (USA)

“Hell is my natural habitat.” A story about the life of a self-destructive former British Consul, Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano of 1984 takes place in a small town in México during the onset of the Second World War. The divorced Geoffrey lives in alcoholic despair until and throughout the arrival of his former spouse, Yvonne, who has been writing him letters and returned with the hope of fixing Geoffrey and their former marriage. Jacqueline Bisset perfectly enacts Yvonne’s heartfelt regret in the treatment of her ex-husband’s sorrow. A few moments later, Geoffrey’s half-brother arrives in the village in Mexico, coming back from reporting about the war in Spain to help his brother to sobriety. Anthony Andrew’s, playing Geoffrey’s half-brother Hugh Firmin, delivers a fitting performance conveying sarcastic optimism in the hopeless situation of his brother. The tragic story of healing the British Consul and his marriage stays unforgiving, as Geoffrey, full of regret, loses himself in alcohol and despair. Throughout the movie, Albert Finney creates an incredible portrayal of an alcoholic - between the charm of a successful diplomat and the rapid loss of control in the inevitable tragic ending.

Philipp Breer, Student of Social Research, M.Sc. at University of Cologne | Project Manager at Global Diplomacy Lab (Germany)

Malcom Lowry’s Under the Volcano illustrates the struggle between dark and light within one’s own mind. This film is not for the faint of heart as it uncovers themes of self-destruction and self-exploration on the day of reckoning. Lowry depicts true human behavior, and the horrors and loneliness of addiction. One of the most important takeaways from this breathtaking film is humans cannot fully love unless we can battle the darkness within ourselves. I enjoyed this film because it depicts the truth humans so often ignore.

Erica Miller, NYU MSGA Candidate and Guard, NCAA 2024 Division III Championship Women’s Basketball Team, New York (USA)

Under the Volcano is a 1984 film directed by John Huston, based on a novel by Malcolm Lowry. This drama explores the inner turmoil of a former British Consul, played by Albert Finney, living in a Mexican town during the Day of the Dead in 1938. The film is an intense journey into the psyche of the protagonist, a man destroyed by alcoholism and the ghosts of his past. The narrative is dense and full of symbolism, faithfully reflecting the complexity of Lowry's novel. John Huston, with his expert direction, manages to capture the oppressive and decadent atmosphere of the story. Albert Finney delivers an extraordinary performance, embodying the protagonist’s inner torment with extreme sensitivity and intensity. Jacqueline Bisset, in the role of Yvonne, the Consul’s wife, brings to the screen a sweetness and vulnerability that contrast with the protagonist's disillusionment. Their troubled relationship is at the center of the narrative, and the dynamics between the two characters are explored with great emotional depth. For those interested in deep, character-driven dramas and literary adaptations, Under the Volcano offers a compelling and thought-provoking experience.

Christian Rossi, Associate Professor, University of Cagliari (Italy)

John Huston's version of Malcolm Lowry's novel, Under the Volcano (1984), is set against the brilliant yet tumultuous backdrop of Mexico on the Day of the Dead. In the film, Albert Finney plays British consul Geoffrey Firmin, whose heavy drinking causes him to fall into self-destruction in which resulted in the performance to define his career. His estranged wife, Yvonne, is portrayed by Jacqueline Bisset as she makes a last-ditch effort to keep their marriage intact. Her character's tragic optimism contrasts considerably with Geoffrey's self-destructive journey, emphasizing the profound disparity between their worlds. Bisset's ability to portray deep emotion subtly adds layers to the film, making Yvonne's broken attempts to restore their marriage even more moving. The approaching volcano, which represents the couple's futile attempts at reconciliation, and Geoffrey's inner turmoil are exceptionally and adeptly depicted in the film. Huston's direction effectively juxtaposes the depressing heat and joyous spirit of Mexico with Firmin's desolation. The underlying plot is bleak and contemplative in nature while the complex and striking cinematography stands in stark contrast to the film’s narrative.

Caroline Smith, Director, Environmental Stewardship, Maritime Regulation Policy Initiative, LEAD IMPACT Reconciliation Institute (USA)

For me, the thing is the text, the words. Once they’re in there, once you’ve devoured those lines, then you can be free to move around and improvise within it to make it sound real. And so it is easier. And I enjoy the so-called hard work process, which is not hard. I enjoy keeping my brain active.

Sir Anthony Hopkins, Variety Actors on Actors Conversation with Jodie Foster