Parade's End - the reviews and discussion thread

[kernowsqueen]

She is a lovely and wonderfully talented actress - but I would not have recognized her if the lovely ladies at RT hadn't mentioned her previous role in Charles II! The dark hair and makeup have aged her perfectly!

[lassie]

I feel awful cos I've fallen asleep twice while trying to watch Friday's episode!!. Not long after I had seen Rufus's 11 seconds I drifted off to sleep and woke up after it had finished. Then I tried again last night and did the same thing - I have a bad cold at the moment, but still, you think I would be able to keep my eyes open!

I'll leave it a couple of days and try again and hopefully will stay awake!

[kernowsqueen]

Poor Lassie- try to get some rest and some nice smoky Lapsang Souchong tea will help with a bad cold...

[walt]

It's a pity that Rev. Duchemin played such a short part in the third episode!

But I must confess, it's admirable to see which parts of the novel Tom Stoppard chose to depict in detail and which other parts he changed, but nevertheless these fragments express what is important for the plot (e.g. like our lamented Mr Duchemin).

[lindragon]

Sept 3, 2012 20:35:09 GMT kernowsqueen said:

LD well put!
It's difficult to understand for us silly creatures of the 21st century just how drastic and difficult it would have been for Christopher or Sylvia to have divorced. Even if they had managed it - say under the notion of Spousal abandonment or abuse (Woodlanders?) it would have ruined both of their positions in society.

A lovely if silly coincidence - I was pouring out a cup of Lapsang Souchong just as our lovely RS mentioned the smell of smoke.

LOL
kq

Thank you, Queenie.
As L.P. hartley says '' The past is a foreign country...they do things differently there.''
And, boy, is he right!

I agree....Isn't Mrs Duchiem a peice of work!! But human nature doesn't change. I love her Pre-Raphaelite style of dressing, though. And the big, baggy velvet berets. Ahhh, I know what will be influencing my clothes this winter.

How many times have we seen Rufus incommoded in water, now?
Falling out of a bath, in D.C.
Being killed in a spa bath in H.O T.
Pulling himself out of a swimming bath in Carrington.
and now dead in a bath in Parade's End. ( He even does that stylishly ).
Any more?

[kernowsqueen]

We will both be affecting velvet berets and Pre-Raphaelite garb this fall and winter!

[sgev]

Sept 12, 2012 15:33:18 GMT lindragon said:

Sept 3, 2012 20:35:09 GMT kernowsqueen said:

and now dead in a bath in Parade's End. ( He even does that stylishly ).
Any more?

Actually I love the scene of the suicide in the bath. It was horrible but in a great way. The blood dripping over beautiful porcelain jars. Surely it was something symbolic… (The next scene was Chistopher hearing bombs and seeing an amputee in the military hospital) and the very comical reaction of Anne Marie Duff…

I’ll miss the rev. but I can’t wait for the next two episodes.

[kygal]

I agree Lindragon. He did dead in the tub very well. Whats wrong with me...lol. I do like the water references. Made a comment on the screencap thread as to how long he had to sit in the tub to get that shot.

[joyceinva]

I think the word harrowing is the best description of last night's episode. Very powerful, but still emotionally wrenching. I felt sorry for everyone last night, Sylvia, Christopher, even poor Potty Perowne and that idiot General Campion. The scene between Campion and Christopher, when he was outlining the diaster that Sylvia's visit had caused and how he had to deal with it, so sad. You got the feeling that he really did care about Christopher and felt betrayed by Sylvia.

[francesca]

I wasn't able to see the last episode of PE until Saturday evening and not able to review it until tonight.
I don't know quite how to put this so I'll be blunt and ask:

With the exception of the performances of Rufus(Rev Duchemin) Ann-Marie Duff,( Mrs. Duchemin) and Rebecca Hall(Sylvia), did anybody else find PE disappointing?

Sorry Sir Tom, having not read the books, I found it confusing and one of the few pieces of Rufus's works that I was not tempted to go back to the original.
Also the only piece I do not think I will buy on DVD

[joyceinva]

I don't kow about disappointing, but I did find the final episode a bit....rushed? One moment Christorpher is in the trenches and the next he's home in London and Sylvia was agreeing to a divorce so he and Valentine could live happily ever after.

And why in the world did Mark, who hated Sylvia, give her permission (at least it was implied he gave permission) to cut down the yew? He knew she was only doing it to spite Christorpher, you would think for that reason alone he would have tried to stop her.

Ah well, It was an interesting production with excellent performances all around.

P.S. I would have loved to see Lord and Lady McMasters get their comeuppance for all their scheming and lies.

[kernowsqueen]

Well I have not yet seen the last episodes -hopefully tonight...
I must agree regarding the MacMasters though!

[jamolivej]

Well since we're being honest here this is my take on PE. obviously I watched this, mainly because Rufus was in it, and re-watched his scenes, short as they were, several times. I still have 2 episodes to watch but have actually cancelled my DVD, knowing that it is not one that I will want to watch again.

[kernowsqueen]

Well I 'm enjoying this programme - flawed as it is (the books were flawed too) and I remain eager to watch the last episode.

[rueful]

Finally got to watch the rest of PE. Spoilers ahead.....

It was a challenging production, but that was ok. I think my problem was that I found nearly all the characters more or less unlikeable. That probably shouldn't sway me, since there's nothing wrong with an "exploration of dark human nature" or whatever you want to call it. However, since this production was challenging, and a big investment of time (that I don't have a lot of), I would have liked to care more about the main characters at the end.

Christopher and Sylvia, I mostly found frustrating.... Cristopher was seeing himself as the ideal honorable British man of the past. However, I believe that he would also have seen that idealized man as a man of action--he would have been proud of the empire and British accomplishments. So his inertia was irritating. And Sylvia was childish. Not a nice child, either. This isn't a perfect analogy, but their interactions reminded me of soap opera plots, where the audience knows that someone loves someone or is someone's long-lost sister or whatever, and if just one of the characters would just open their mouths or take some action, three years of agony would be avoided.

Joyce beautifully expressed how I felt about Christopher.

Sept 8, 2012 18:42:20 GMT @joyceinva said:

He's been taking the "stiff upper lip" thing to an extreme. It's as if he doens't care what anyone (even Sylvia) thinks as long as he's ok with what he's doing, thinking, etc. Take the bank situation - HE knew the checks were good, that it was a clerical error being exploited by Sylvia's would-be lover. So he couldn't be bothered with correcting other's mis-apprehensions. Same thing with people thinking Mrs. Duchemin was his and McMaster's lover. HE knew it wasn't true, so to heck with what everyone else thought. A very trying attitude to have to live with.

I liked Valentine pretty well. I laughed at her puzzlement at the technical aspects of Mrs D's pregnancy. (In fact, that was one more reason for Mrs D to KNOW that Valentine could not have been intimate with Chris.) Her naivete was sweet, but her self-involvement annoyed me too (although in character for someone of her age). Mrs D turned out to be a hateful character, but Valentine's emotional reaction to Mrs D's pregnancy made me want to slap her. "Oh, you've spent many desperate years coping with an insane husband, who you've cheated on, and now you're pregnant and very desperate. How dare you ruin my vision of your pure and poetic platonic relationship?"

The character I didn't understand was Mark. Was he trying to drive his father to suicide? If so, why? I don't think it would have been so he could inherit, because in the first episode, he seemed glad that Sylvia's pregnancy would mean he didn't have to produce an offspring (although I suppose that could have been meant as sarcasm). And he seemed to care little about the traditions of the estate itself. I could understand his dismay at what he thought Christopher was doing to ruin the family name, but then Mark seemed to encourage the spreading of gossip by questioning and egging on his friend. Did I miss some dialog? (Wouldn't be the first time!)

Finally, I agree with Joyce about the last episode (especially the last 15 minutes) seeming very rushed. There was a lot of "tell" rather than "show": "The war's over." "Chris was discharged."I've been in hospital." Then all of a sudden they're dancing in his living room. They could have shortened a few of those loooooong scenes of people riding in cars or trains, staring into space, and filled out the ending a bit.

My favorite part of the ending actually was Sylvia asking Campion if he would marry her if she got divorced and his look of terror.

It was intelligently written, and beautifully acted, but it's not going to be a part of my dvd collection either.