Michel Houellebecq, a 40-year-old ex-Marxist, was hailed in some quarters as a scourge of the 1968ers and damned in others as an anti-liberal misanthrope.
Mr. Russell Beale is a very great actor, almost great enough to convince us that the serenely generous Timon of the first half is the same person as the grisly misanthrope of the second.
As played by actor Hugh Laurie, Dr. Gregory House was a genius wrapped in vengeful id, a Vicodin-addicted misanthrope who spent his days playing pranks and insulting subordinates until the moment when his eyes would pop grimly out of his head and he came to some conclusion that no other doctor could reach.