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Post by barfleur on Jan 19, 2007 16:28:03 GMT
Maxx love, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I thought Juliet Aubry's Dorothea was excellent. To me she expressed so much emotion in her eyes and the tone of her voice, and the chemistry between the 2 of them in certain scenes - Will's visits with her in Rome and back at Lowick - was quite exciting, though subtle. Rufus deserves a lot of the credit, to be sure.
JMHO -
G
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Post by Sewellian on Jan 25, 2007 19:59:24 GMT
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. Rai I just joined this board and went straight to the MiddleMarch topic. I'm going to have to agree with Rai. I can forgive all the sins of this movie because Ruf was just so good looking and acted the Romantic so well that the rest of the movie was worth watching for those times he was on screen. The same goes for Dangerous Beauty. He made the movie. |
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Post by maxx02 on Jan 25, 2007 20:12:51 GMT
Maxx love, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I thought Juliet Aubry's Dorothea was excellent. To me she expressed so much emotion in her eyes and the tone of her voice, and the chemistry between the 2 of them in certain scenes - Will's visits with her in Rome and back at Lowick - was quite exciting, though subtle. Rufus deserves a lot of the credit, to be sure. JMHO - G LOL! well if we all agreed on everything you wouldn't be able to post on this board with a shoehorn and poor Brad Pitt would be living in a gutter somewhere. I'm perfectly happy to be disagreed with.... especially if someone has a good reason.  |
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Post by quoll on Apr 7, 2007 5:03:17 GMT
There is a nice music video up on youtube, set to Rufus Wainwright's Hallelujah and it shows the relationship between Ladislaw and Dorothea without all the other time wasting stuff (Tertius Lydgate's wife needs a good smack!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvTCO8-pWLI |
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Post by sevensisters on Apr 7, 2007 19:36:00 GMT
Very nice, Quoll! I enjoyed that one. I agree, Tertius's wife (can't remember her name) was spoiled and selfish and needed a good smack!
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Apr 8, 2007 0:04:14 GMT
Thans for that, quoll!
I do love those lingering kisses at the end...*sigh* (me next, please, Rufus!)
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Apr 20, 2007 19:13:52 GMT
It's just been announced that Sam Mendes is going to direct the first big-screen version of Middlemarch, with Andrew Davies (who wrote the script for the mini-series) penning the screenplay. No cast details yet, but I don't think we need hold our breath for Rufus. Unless, of course, he was offered Edward Casaubon. D'you think he'd take it? Nah..... news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6577101.stm |
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Post by jemima on Apr 20, 2007 21:50:35 GMT
oh i don't know, it'd give him a chance to wear another totally unflattering wig, even worse than the Thomas Clarkson one, wouldn't it? ;D
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Post by etherealtb on Apr 20, 2007 22:21:28 GMT
Unless, of course, he was offered Edward Casaubon. THAT would certainly be interesting. |
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Apr 21, 2007 13:21:57 GMT
oh i don't know, it'd give him a chance to wear another totally unflattering wig, even worse than the Thomas Clarkson one, wouldn't it? ;D I didn't think of that!  I think I want him to do it now! (Not that I liked that wig, but since Rufe seems happy in them.....) |
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Post by opheliadarcy on May 21, 2007 1:54:22 GMT
I first watched MM while doing a late-nighter to get an urgent sewing project out the way. Mostly listened to the first half and didn't take much in, but the second half had me riveted!
Loved Dorothea and Ladislaw, and am now enjoying the book. So many insights, Eliot was a genius.
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Post by rufluvr on May 21, 2007 17:04:32 GMT
The genius for me lay in the realistic showing of how dissapointing marraige can be, sad to say. She thought she was marrying for the right reasons. One cannot live without love, however. She had never been in love, so Dorothea could not have known how important it is to true happiness. Besides, back then people married for practical reasons, and that they could even choose their spouse back then was still rare. Dorothea made unrealistic assumptions that she would be treated with respect and esteemed as a valuable partner and confidant. One could see how she misinterpreted his flattered response to her attention as a possible chance for the symbiosis of thier intellectual like minds. Her husband, alas, did not prove to be progressive. The social mores of the day won out (male chauvinism, gender inequity) and her husband proved not to be any more progressive than the average man. He only accepted her help when he absolutely needed it. He was a sh**. Yes, she was really stupid lovewise, but a least she had her priorities figured out in the end. And ends up with her love. Doesn't that happen to a lot of us?
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Post by opheliadarcy on May 21, 2007 20:38:52 GMT
I agree with your insightful observations, rufluvr. In the adaptations I found myself plotting all sorts of cinematic ways to eliminate Casaubon ASAP, while in the book I found myself feeling a poignant kind of pity for him. That's one of the things I like best about Eliot; being able to get inside the heads/hearts of even the most unlikeable of characters, and see things from their perspective.
Casaubon wasn't a rotter or a cad, but he was certainly someone to be pitied. And I so very much admire Dorothea for remaining loyal to him, even after realising her mistake. There was great dignity surrounding the tragedy of this situation.
I would call Dorothea inexperienced and naive rather than stupid. I don't believe these equate to the same thing, though it can certainly look that way.
One thing that did bother me in the adaptation was the amount of time Ladislaw spent with Mrs Lydgate, alone. Wouldn't this have been considered completely inappropriate, and even scandalous at the tiime? It surprised me that he would do this; not that she would.
I really loved the way Dorothea handled the situation when she discovered them together, and the tension preceding the eventual resolution of it.
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Post by rufluvr on May 22, 2007 0:43:14 GMT
Quite right, naive and inexperienced is a better word for how she was. (Sorry, when I watch the beautiful babe Rufus doing any honest, earnest, but rejected character, " STUPID, Stupid Girl!!" just springs to mind, regardless of her character, the storyline, whatever-- ha, ha  ) That's always a viewer hazard when watching any character not immediately admire Rufus' magnificence onscreen--ha, ha. I suppose if they always did, where would the story be?? I must remember to keep that in check. Like "Woodlanders" by Thomas Hardy, Middlemarch was a heartbreaker. I must say though, "Woodlanders" REALLY slayed me on a emotional level more than Middlemarch. Mostly because you can really feel their aching for each other, and her deep regret for the poor choice she made that hurt them both so badly--and that basically killed her love in the end. Especially touching was the way she told her husband that yes, they were living as man and wife, because in her heart, though not in fact, or the way he was meaning, they were. Oh!!! Boo, hoo. I suppose they did devote more screen time to that part of the story in "Woodlanders" so that helped! Maybe they shouldn't have spent so much time alone in Middlemarch, but people are forever doing what they "shouldn't" aren't they? |
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Post by opheliadarcy on May 22, 2007 0:51:29 GMT
I must look up Woodlanders, haven't seen/read that one. Sounds very interesting.
Yes, people are forever doing what they 'shouldn't', 'tis true; I suppose I found it odd because it was made to appear so normal. It would be normal today, but not then. I do believe this comes across differently in the book, must have a look some time to compare.
Overall I thought they did a good job in the adaptation at keeping the spirit of the book. Would love to have seen the closing scene as it was in the book, though; much more powerful in my opinion. Still, can't complain - striding across the grass to his beloved was better than nothing!
And I must admit that despite what I say, I'm always gesticulating at the tv set saying things like "Stupid STUPID girl!!" and "NOOOOoooo!!!" etc. etc. at the appropriate bits!
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) That's always a viewer hazard when watching any character not immediately admire Rufus' magnificence onscreen--ha, ha. I suppose if they always did, where would the story be?? I must remember to keep that in check.