Middlemarch

[CC]

I can't believe you haven't got a thread on Middlemarch here. It was a BBC George Eliot mini-series epic in which he played the rather sulky but infinitely gorgeous Will Ladislaw. It was more than a decade ago now and he looks rather young. Here's a few pics I found ;D

[maxx02]

well, we recently moved, CC. We used to have a thread for everything. We're just getting back up to speed and getting our membership back.

Middlemarch is not one of my personal favorites because I'm a fan of Rufus' acting not his pretty... well, everything, I guess. But I'm sure there are many people here who'd love to join you in admiring his... er, talent...

But that top picture is lovely. May I add it to my webpage?

[ukelelehip]

maxx02 said:

But I'm sure there are many people here who'd love to join you in admiring his... er, talent...

Guilty. I'm not a huge fan of Middlemarch even though I am a sucker for costume dramas. MM is just so long and soapy and not very interesting imho. But but but Ladislaw does make up for sitting through the whole darn thing.

[quoll]

I enjoy period dramas but MM seems to me to be full of silly people who need a kick. I am far more irritated by their foibles than I am in other dramas of the same era. Must admit that I am tempted to ff through to the Ladislaw bits (shallow or what?!)

[pattirose]

I waited almost a year to get this from our library, which is rather odd. When I asked about it I was told that loans to nursing homes have the return date extended, which definitely puts some merit in Ruf's comments about being popular with the blue haired crowd!

[CC]

quoll said:

I enjoy period dramas but MM seems to me to be full of silly people who need a kick. I am far more irritated by their foibles than I am in other dramas of the same era. Must admit that I am tempted to ff through to the Ladislaw bits (shallow or what?!)

I have to agree with you there Quoll - I could cheerfully slap Dorothea as the most annoying heroine in a long history of annoying heroines.

I adore period dramas and 19th century literature but George Eliot is not among my favourites. Middlemarch is, however, quite a highly respected adaptation.

[pendarim]

I have to admit that I couldn't get into MM. My eyes started to glaze over after about 10 minutes. I only came out of it when Rufus was on. I wanted to fast forward through it, too...but it was a rented vhs that wasn't in the greatest condition. They didn't have it on DVD.

Pen

[mcr5137]

I agree with you guys.........I love period dramas, but MM had me nodding off here and there. I thought Rufus did a great job with what he had..........it was just so slow and tedious! They could have told the story in half the time or less, instead of drawing it out like they did!

Michelle

[rai]

Okay, so you're all on drugs. I'm sorry, Middlemarch was my first sighting of Rufus and it will always be near & dear to my heart.

Sure, you wish the Vincy family would get deported, and that Raffles guy was so vile you wanted to poison him, but Will "as if I were in danger of forgetting everything else" Ladislaw

BTW, Rufus said one of the actors in Amazing Grace was also in Middlemarch. I forget who, but he said he was one of those townspeople who were against Dr. Lydgate.

Rai

[maxx02]

I said he looked beautiful.

He was young and pretty and very foolish because Dorthea was no where near good enough for him.

But I understand Rai. I feel exactly the same about Dark City. And Illuminata. And At Sachem Farm. And Tristan + Isolde. And Charles II...

[ukelelehip]

rai said:

BTW, Rufus said one of the actors in Amazing Grace was also in Middlemarch. I forget who, but he said he was one of those townspeople who were against Dr. Lydgate.

Ooh, quiz!! *goes off to google*

[sevensisters]

quoll said:

I enjoy period dramas but MM seems to me to be full of silly people who need a kick. I am far more irritated by their foibles than I am in other dramas of the same era. Must admit that I am tempted to ff through to the Ladislaw bits (shallow or what?!)

That's the beauty of DVDs - so much easier to skip over to the good parts (the ones with Will Ladislaw!) than those tiresome VHS tapes.

[ree]

I enjoyed MM and think George Eliot was an interesting character herself. However, I don't think a little editing would have ruined the movie. ;D
Loved the pics of Rufus, what a beautiful boy he was, but ever so much better all grown up!

[barfleur]

maxx02 said:

He was young and pretty and very foolish because Dorthea was no where near good enough for him.

Dorothea's problem was that she had such "lofty" ideas about love and marriage. She would have known next to nothing about sex.
Remember when her uncle who had raised her and her sister made the comment that she could read anything she wanted now that she was married. She thought she wanted a husband who was "above her" and would educate her, then when she met Will while visiting her future home with her fiance, dry, old insecure Cassaubon, it was love at first sight, only she couldn't admit it, even to herself. The sexual tension between Will and Dorothea is a beautiful thing to see! The scene where Dorothea fully realizes to her shock that she has loved Will all along, just as her husband suspected, is one of my favorites. Class, wealth, racism (Will's father was a poor Polish musician, remember) all enter into this wonderful story. Of course, the book is better because the many interweaving lives are given more scope. Still, the mini-series is better than most film adaptations of classic novels.

As you can tell, I love Middlemarch. It wasn't my first Roof sighting, Dark City was, but when I saw it for the first time I was re-smitten.

I'll hop off the soap-box now. ;D

G
xo

[maxx02]

My problem with Dorothea was not her character but rather the actress who played her. I don't see that sexual tension on Dorothea's part in this Middlemarch, ever. In fact I feel as if I need to check her pulse to make sure that she is breathing as I'm quite certain in some scenes she's gone to sleep. I know I have.

Someone wrote a final kiss so she did it--like a nun with a favorte pupil. Even if one considers it a symbol of an era it makes for very poor drama. In fact I don't see much but a dull woman who gets much more attention than she ought to have. And I think that the blame lies with the actress and/or the director.

Her 'zest' and appeal are written into the words. Unfortunately I don't see it in the performance.

Of course she wouldn't be the first person to look plain and colorless standing next to Rufus and likely she will not be the last.

I forgot to mention:
(YAY! We're talking about the work! I love talking about he work.)