One for two
-
- March
- 28
On Sunday, Part 1 of a new PBS adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility” (9 p.m., WNET-Channel 13) vies with the return of Showtime’s “The Tudors” (10 p.m.) for your attention. But it’s really no contest as to which you should watch.
While it won’t make you forget the 1995 Ang Lee-Emma Thompson film, Andrew Davies’ retelling of “Sense and Sensibility” is a thoroughly absorbing affair, despite a very un-Austen-like opening seduction scene that leaves no doubt as to what a rapscallion Willoughby (Dominic Cooper) is.
He will, of course, romance the sensibility of our story, the passionate, impoverished beauty Marianne Dashwood (Charity Wakefield, below right), who is adored by the worthier Col. Brandon (David Morrissey). The sense is provided by Marianne’s older sister, Elinor (Hattie Morahan, at left), who must conceal her love for young cleric-to-be Edward Ferrars (Dan Stevens) and her fear of being separated from him forever.
I have no particular criticism of this miniseries, which is more than I can say for “The Tudors.” If you’ve read this blog before, then you already know that I find the series laughably anachronistic and Jonathan Rhys Meyers wholly unsuitable as Henry VIII. It doesn’t help that this time ‘round Peter O’Toole is aboard as a maliciously witty Pope Paul III — a reminder of how a star can rivet in a costume drama.
And yet, I found the series’ second season oddly compelling, partly because Henry’s increasing disenchantment with bewitching Wifey No. 2, Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) remains great theater and partly because the series has shifted focus to the tragic public consequences of Henry’s lustful private actions. The humiliation of discarded Wife No. 1, Katherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy), and daughter Mary (Sarah Bolger); the awful martyrdom of Thomas More (Jeremy Northam) and Bishop John Fisher (Bosco Hogan); the brutal tussle between church and state with a tortured populace caught in the middle — all so Henry could marry Anne — these remain the haunting cautionary lessons of selfish leadership.
There’s a wonderful moment in which Mary, reduced to waiting on baby half-sister Elizabeth, is shown to her nun-like cell — she who once had a palace and servants to command. She begins to weep, then catches herself — a princess still.
Moments like these keep you in the game.
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 4:52 pm by Georgette Gouveia.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
