Dean Spanley

Dean Spanley is a 2008 New Zealand and British comedydrama film, with fantastic elements, from Miramax Films, Atlantic Film Group UK and General Film Corporation NZ, directed by Fijian New Zealander Toa Fraser. The film is based on an Alan Sharp adaptation of Irish author Lord Dunsanys short novel My Talks with Dean Spanley, and stars Sam Neill as the Dean, Jeremy Northam and Peter OToole as Fisk Junior and Fisk Senior respectively and Bryan Brown as Wrather.

The narrative is called a surreal period comedic tale of canine reincarnation exploring the relationships between father and son and master and dog. Peter OToole said that the films use of comedy to explore the relationship between a father and son was part of the attraction for him All of us have had these difficult familial relationships and I think its a film for all of us who understand the relationship between a father and son. Its been interesting watching how various members of the crew have been looking at the monitors during scenes, because they come up to me and say, I had the same thing with my father.citation needed In the very early 1900s, Henslowe Fisk lives beholden to his father, the difficult Horatio Fisk. The Fisk family has suffered first the loss of its younger son, Harrington Fisk Xavier Horan, killed in the Second AngloBoer War, shortly followed by the death of Horatios wife. Fisk Senior is looked after by his housekeeper Mrs Brimley Judy Parfitt who has lost her husband. Fisk Junior reluctantly visits his father every Thursday. ........

Source: Wikipedia