“Nightmare Alley” (MA) *** and a half

THE word “geek” nowadays has three meanings. 

One, a noun, is synonymous with “dork”. Another is a verb, meaning “to engage in or discuss computer-related tasks obsessively or with great attention to technical detail”. It’s also a noun, meaning “a performer at a carnival or circus whose show consists of bizarre or grotesque acts”.

This last has a small but important place in William Lindsay Gresham’s novel published in 1947 that, more than seven decades later, provides the story co-adapted by writer Kim Morgan with her director husband Guillermo del Toro into the screenplay for this 150-minutes-long drama.

Set between World Wars I and II, the story unfolds in middle-America where, toward the end of the Great Depression, a carnival owner (Willem Dafoe) hires unemployed Stan (Bradley Cooper) to help in setting up some of the attractions. 

Stan is a sort of anti-hero, a good-looking drifter and hustler who sells his soul to transform himself into a successful showman and manipulator. 

But as he rises amongst the ranks of society, he starts to believe he can outwit fate, until his American Dream begins to unravel.

Over the years, three women loom large in Stan’s life. Two of them are played by Australian actresses. Toni Colette plays Zeena, whose act as a mind-reading seer always draws the punters. Cate Blanchett plays psychiatrist Dr Ritter, a dangerous scheming woman who lusts for not only Stan’s body but also for his accumulated wealth. 

The third is Rooney Mara playing Molly, the young woman who makes the mistake of falling for Stan.

And what about the geek? A geek is a human only in physical form, a creature whose life has been brought to the very deepest pit of degradation, feared for unpredictably and complete lack of moral awareness. 

In the film, he lives in a strong cage to shield him from folk who pay to see a monstrosity. More to be pitied than despised, he does not speak. 

And his table manners are best described as needing polish.

At all cinemas