HENRY (1947), THREE

How can David Niven be unlikable, lol? A bishop, a revered community and religious figure, is played as a git. Bold choice.

He’s determined to build his cathedral. We all see the irony immediately: he thinks he’s glorifying God, but by ignoring his family and his flock he’s doing the opposite. Because of that tension he’s stressed all the time. What he’s feeling is unsustainable.

I want to say he’s a Three. His charm and success, the ease of his vocation, are all things that happened before this story began. All we see is his crisis. Still, though, a man in his position is gifted at the social skills. He’s greatly admired in the community, even now. Only his wife sees the first signs of fraying.

And one of the things that upsets him the most is his failure. He looks bad as a bishop when he can’t get the cathedral funding, and Dudley makes him look bad with his wife, which he hates. Threes, who succeed at so much of what they touch, really dislike the rare moment when they don’t.