Bartleby's quiet and off-kilter demeanor unsettles the Boss, but with no other options, he hires Bartleby.īartleby initially proves to be a model employee and a boon to the office, getting a week's worth of work done in only a few days. Bartleby explains in his interview that he worked at a dead letter office for eight years until the office moved, but otherwise gives vague answers to the Boss's questions.

The Boss decides to advertise for a fourth employee to help with an expected increase in workload, but the only person who applies for the job is the man from the overpass, the titular Bartleby. The Boss's office is in a building on top of a large hill, completely inaccessible by foot, and he employs three people: Ernest, an overweight and neurotic klutz Rocky, who looks and acts like a stereotypical mobster and Vivian, his verbose, flirtatious, and bluntly honest receptionist. While on his way to work one day, the film's narrator, the unnamed manager of a public records office (hereafter referred to as the Boss), sees a forlorn-looking man standing on an overpass. By the time he died at age 72, almost nobody knew who he was. The film opens with a brief summary of Herman Melville's life his popularity waning after writing 'Moby Dick' and 'Bartleby, the Scrivener', Melville could no longer make a living as a writer and took a job as a clerk at the New York Custom House. The film diverges from Melville's story, setting it in a modern office and adding sitcom-style humor, but maintaining an element of surrealism. The film was directed by Jonathan Parker, and stars Crispin Glover as Bartleby, and David Paymer as his boss. Bartleby is a 2001 American comedy-drama film adaptation of Herman Melville's short story ' Bartleby, the Scrivener'.

Bartleby by herman melville