Little Dorrit

Set against the grim, soot-stained backdrop of Victorian London, this cinematic translation of Dickens’ seminal work navigates the claustrophobic corridors of the Marshalsea debtors' prison. The narrative centers on Amy Dorrit, born into the shadow of systemic penury, whose life becomes inextricably linked with Arthur Clennam, a man haunted by his family’s spectral secrets. As William Dorrit, the self-proclaimed 'Father of the Marshalsea,' maintains a facade of gentility amidst squalor, the film explores the paradox of social mobility and the corrosive nature of unearned wealth. When a sudden inheritance catapults the Dorrit family from the dregs of poverty to the heights of European aristocracy, the emotional chasm between their past and present widens. The protagonist’s refusal to wed an heiress until the scales of fortune are balanced serves as a poignant critique of the era’s mercantile approach to human affection, ultimately revealing that the most restrictive prisons are often those constructed by the mind and the rigid hierarchies of society.