selffamily
I have not enjoyed a mini series or anything (come to think of it) as well as I have enjoyed this. Thoroughly addictive, with absorbing characters and compelling plot, I could not stop watching it. Our hero was one to make women of his era swoon, and his honourable behaviour was obviously too much for some viewers to comprehend. His wife, charming, manipulative and adorable, was so beautiful and so naughty that it was impossible to take one's eyes off her. The young would-be mistress was a joy. The other characters are too numerous to name, but there was not a weak link in the whole production. (For those who found accents hard to understand: try harder. We have listened to accents with difficulty from all over the American states, but without subtitles. You really must get out more.) the language was perfect for the era, as opposed to certain other series where it has been dumbed down and modernised for today's viewers. This is the authentic stuff, and is lovely and ... I could go on for hours. Loved every second.
geoffreybrooks
This vote is partial and based on seeing the first two episodes this month (October 2015) on Argentine cable TV (Film & Arts). Therefore it is not a full opinion. I have enjoyed the acting and storyline very much so far.I have two criticisms which may be the fault of the author of the book on which it is based or failing to consult military authorities.(1) Trench warfare was resorted to at the end of 1914 and not at the outbreak of war. Initially the fighting was mobile. The belligerents only dug in once they realized the scale of their losses and had become exhausted.(2) In the British Army, nobody ever salutes anybody else when not wearing headgear. Having had that drilled into me as a young man fifty years ago I found that to be an irritating error.
jeansheridan
No spoilers here at all! I love Rebecca Hall and I enjoy Cumberbatch a lot, so together in a film? Dreamy. This is the same era as the first season of Downton Abbey, but the tone is vastly different. Much funnier and drier, which suits Cumberbatch. What doesn't suit him is the blond hair! Rebecca Hall has the same issue too. What were they thinking? I'm not sure why they wanted Cumberbatch to look like Dan Savage or James Wilby, but there you go. Not a good look. And Rebecca Hall usually has glorious dark hair. The light reddish color doesn't suit at all. I know this is minor complaint because the performances are fantastic, but it was very distracting.In short, a smart mini-series with a smart writer and smart actors. What's not to love?
spambouk1000
This is an impressive adaptation. It is obscure in many ways, but that is, I think, the point. An old-fashioned, decent Englishman, Christopher, has a fling with an aristocrat on a train, Sylvia, and this sets both of them on a downward spiral. Why did they do it? Why do people get mixed up with the absolute wrong person? I think their attraction is that they are both completely outdated types: She is the worst of a selfish, dissolute aristocracy, who gets its way through clubby connections and manipulation. He is the best of the old ways: honorable and self-denying. She sees his value as nobody else does and she uses her nasty, underhanded tactics to defend him as much as to corrupt him. He on the contrary uses his code to admire her as much as repress her. It is the last gasp of Old England. Complicating the story is Valentine, the suffragette. She is truthful, unselfish and decent to others, like Crissy (as they call him), but she hates the old ways and offer him a choice. Is there a place for such values in the dawning 20th century? The stories about corrupt government ministers, crazy churchmen, nasty adulterers, cruel gossips and the horror of WWI unfolds against this basic conflict between the dying gentlemanly code and the unfolding new century. Benedict Cumberbatch is outstanding as Christopher: he always balances the exterior coldness and interior passion, and we can like him without sharing his dated beliefs. Rebecca Hall also does a lot with Sylvia, who could have been a cheating nasty B but shows us how much she hopes for love and is unable to find it in the narrow upper-class world.This series demands that the viewer do the work. It never plays down to the audience, and I'm glad of it. It's worth pondering why people make the choices they do, especially under the pressure of a World War. Really top-notch.
AD
