Brit Lit 101

Or, as Netflix would categorize it: "Period Dramas based on 19th-century British Literature" 

But the big news is HOORAY! after a 12-month hiatus, Monthly Movies are back!!!

This month we bring you our favorites and there were a lot of great ones to choose from. We're both slight Anglophiles and love a good period piece, so there were certainly a lot of options, but in some ways they narrowed themselves. For instance, there's a whole garage-worth of good Jane Austen adaptations but we couldn't let her take more than one of the four weeks. Also, lots of good Dickens movies, but I don't like his books (sorry mom) so he got the ax too. You get where I'm going with this... lots of good choices, we just picked four of the best ones.

We also decided to arrange them in chronological order (by setting) so Miss Austen gets the first week.

Everyone and their cow and goat and puppy has seen every version of Pride and Prejudice ever made and rightfully so, but I find that the more mature and unassuming Persuasion gets overlooked (much as quiet, patient Ann Eliot would stand back and let fiery Lizzy Bennet take all the attention). But if you're one who has never encountered Ann and Wentworth and the host of interesting characters behind them, this is your lucky day. It's not a story of finding love, but of restoring it after all hope is gone.

In their youth, Ann and Wentworth fell deeply in love, but as she was the daughter of a baronette and he just a simple sailor, she was persuaded to reject his proposal of marriage. Years later, she lives a life of quiet regret and resignation, the longsuffering middle daughter of a foppish idiot and a veritable slave to the whims of both her crazy sisters. Wentworth went on to receive acclaim, wealth and prestige in the Napoleonic Wars and is now a great catch for any young woman and nurses hurt pride and bitter heartbreak at Ann's rejection years earlier. That's all the synopsis you get. Now go watch.

A few words on the film itself, definitely make sure you're watching the 1995 version starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hines. The entire cast is phenomenal and entirely draws you into their world. The cinematography is gorgeous and the music is perfectly aligned to the period, lots of early 19th century solo piano works and Italian Art songs. There was a new version made just a few years ago starring Sally Hawkins. I have to say that while the cast of the new version looked right--all a bit younger (closer to the age Austen describes) and more attractive, their acting and chemistry just left me completely cold and unconvinced. Amanda Root and Ciaran Hines on the other hand (as well as the rest of the cast), just quietly and intensely personify their characters so much that you utterly believe in their heartbreak and inner--always unspoken--turmoil. 

Up next week: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (starring Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson)