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Post by kygal on Jan 3, 2013 11:44:26 GMT
He may have had feelngs for her or enjoyed being with her, not sure he would allow himself to love her.
Thanks for the info Frannie.
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Post by kernowsqueen on Jan 3, 2013 12:43:00 GMT
Spoiler Alert!!!!!! Rachel said Do you think William Boyd thought he didn't need to go into detail re: Lucas Romer's work as a double-agent for the Russians because he assumed most readers would be familiar with the real history of MI5 and MI6? That both had highly placed agents who defected to Russia in the 60's after working for them for decades. Do people in England remember Guy Burgess and Kim Philby? Or maybe he thought the kind of people who read thrillers would remember them? Spoiler! I didn't see anything in Lucas that would suggest a Cambridge Spies dynamic. Mr. Burgess & Mr. Philby struct me as two men who deeply cared about destroying Fascism and the values of Socialism in that conflict, but I don't see Roemer as having that desire. I think he was the worst sort of pragmatist - after all he didn't defect - he just lingered in GB until the seventies. Of course - its just fiction. Yes Rachel, we do remember them . We regularly have documentaries , plays and films about them KQ, one of the Cambridge spies, Anthony Blunt was not only knighted but was Master of the Queen pictures and was highly respected to top circles until he was outed. I believe I am right to say that the others only defected because they were on the verge of being arrested , but someone warned them . Early in Restless there is a remark about the Cambridge group having an unknown sixth man. This is not invented by William Boyd. This man was believed to be someone very high in the establishment . The other five being Burgess, Maclean , Philby , Blunt, and John Carincross. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed Restless Every thing was so perfect The elegance of the clothes . the three piece suits , the Burberry Macs and the Hat , of course. I hate smoking but the drift of smoke films so beautifully and is so evocative of the period. Oh Lucas !!  One little point .... Do you think he loved her ? even the tiniest bit ? I like to think so . He does say emphatically "It doesn't matter what I feel." Good Morning Dears! [glow=red,2,300]SPOILERS! SPOILERS! [/glow] Francesca you brilliant girl - I had absolutely forgotten about Blunt and I admit I must have missed the Cambridge spies reference at the start of 'Restless'. Too excited to see our lovely Rufus! ;D Now to the second point - the question of love...here was my only abiding problem with the hard boiled spy type story ... the notion of the sweet female spy with the golden heart who loves a baddy ... I rather hope that someday we can see a spy film in which the older spy master is the one who ends up confessing his love to the young and clever agent - rather than the reverse ...The pivital scene in which Romer was making love to Eva and stopped to stare at her for a while made me think - that - down deep- he was a manipulator rather than a lover ...or at least maybe even he didn't know just what he felt. My gut says no - Romer didn't love Eva! |
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Post by welshdragon on Jan 3, 2013 13:29:22 GMT
I've deliberately stayed off the Rooftop until I could watch the 2nd episode! Watched it last night (at last) and was left a little bit let down by Sally's confrontation with Romer. It was a bit of a damp squib in my opinion.
As others have said I didn't really understand why Romer was a double agent and also didn't see the point of her daughters ex boyfriend suddenly appearing.
You were left wondering whether it really was the police who paid her a visit asking about him and that was fine - it added to the intrigue. But why did he suddenly turn up, it seemed pointless to me or did I miss something?
Apart from that I thoroughly enjoyed it, Hayley was great, the style of the 40's and the 70's was lovely, and it goes without saying that Rufus was wonderful as always. Especially the bedroom scenes - yum!
Lucas Romer must have turned slightly camp a he got older too! Michael Gambon always makes me laugh, whether it's intentional or not, he always looks and sounds as though he's up to mischief!
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Post by francesca on Jan 3, 2013 14:43:33 GMT
After I threw the cat among the pigeons about whether Lucas loved Eva, I have to confess!
Although I said I wanted him to love her, I am afraid I agree with you, KQ and Welshdragon . He was manipulating her right from the beginning.
I also have to say he could manipulate me any day.
Another immaculate performance from our fella.
Not sure about whether Sir Michael fitted .
Not quite right somehow, I feel.
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Post by rueful on Jan 3, 2013 16:37:20 GMT
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT THIS POST!Spoiler Alert!!!!!!Do you think William Boyd thought he didn't need to go into detail re: Lucas Romer's work as a double-agent for the Russians because he assumed most readers would be familiar with the real history of MI5 and MI6? That both had highly placed agents who defected to Russia in the 60's after working for them for decades. Do people in England remember Guy Burgess and Kim Philby? Or maybe he thought the kind of people who read thrillers would remember them? Spoiler Alert!!!!!! Early in Restless there is a remark about the Cambridge group having an unknown sixth man. This is not invented by William Boyd. This man was believed to be someone very high in the establishment . The other five being Burgess, Maclean , Philby , Blunt, and John Carincross. Thanks, Rachel and Frannie! This was VERY helpful. Now that you mention it, I remember reading about the defections, but it didn't come to mind at all during Restless. If there was a mention of it early in the show, I missed it. Now I remember older Eva's statement to Lucas: "You were the sixth man." I didn't get that at all. I thought it referred to her training, when she was trying to get away from the group tailing her, and he told her she did well, but sometimes a 6 man team was used and he'd been a few feet away from her the whole time. Even with that new understanding, I still don't like Lucas's "motivation." Very weak, or at least weakly stated, if you ask me (although no one ever does  ). I don't think he loved Eva. He may have been attracted to her, he may have liked her, but in the end he was using her.
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Post by Rachel on Jan 3, 2013 16:58:34 GMT
SPOILERS AHEAD
There has always been speculation about who the "sixth man" was. The didn't make so much of it in the movie, but in the book, early on, Eva notes that Romer has an educated upper class accent, that she thinks of him as a gentleman. So yeah, I can see William Boyd casting him as the "sixth man."
As to his loving Eva - no. He threw her to the wolves without a moment's hesitation when it suited his purpose. He may have respected her abilities, he may have lusted after her, but no, he did not love her. She was a means to an end.
But I'm not sure how much she really loved him either. Yes, she had a crush on him, but did she really ever trust him? Remember the end of the delectable "underpants" scene? When Romer goes to shower, Eva searches his briefcase. I think she knew, deep down, that she couldn't trust him.
That actually was my main quibble with the movie over the book. In the book, Eva was a much tougher personality.
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Post by anyother on Jan 3, 2013 19:14:55 GMT
SPOILERS AHEADThat actually was my main quibble with the movie over the book. In the book, Eva was a much tougher personality. I agree. The scene where she has to find her way back through the Scottish 'wilderness' for instance, is quite different in the book - there she enjoys every second of it, in the series she doesn't so much. |
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Post by kissmekate on Jan 4, 2013 7:55:05 GMT
She's not the first one to return after her night in the woods either - she has lost her way quite badly and is the last to come back.
I haven't yet seen part 2 but couldn't resist peeking at your spoilers. Karl-Heinz doesn't make an appearance in the book, it's his brother who shows up at Ruth's door rather early in the book and plays a minor but not unimportant role throughout the novel.
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Post by kygal on Jan 4, 2013 11:36:36 GMT
The part in the bedroom when he stops and "looks" at her is explained more in the book.
I do think Eva loved Romer, or thought she did. She just did what she was taught, so to speak, when she checked his stuff.
Rufus is so good you cant help but sympathize or even like the bad guy he plays.
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Post by rueful on Jan 4, 2013 17:16:36 GMT
The part in the bedroom when he stops and "looks" at her is explained more in the book. Now I really want to read it. ;D I agree--Also, her doubts about Lucas are not much different than the doubts anyone might have about their significant other. "Does he really love me?" {The answer is no, Eva!} It's just that in her case, she was concerned he was serving another country, not that he was cheating with another woman. Yes--it's as he said in his recent interview. No one is all good or all bad. |
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Post by anyother on Jan 4, 2013 22:21:34 GMT
That's what makes a character interesting in my opinion - no role Rufus plays is ever just black or white.
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Post by kygal on Jan 4, 2013 22:55:18 GMT
Yeah, but I usually dont like the baddies portrayed by other people...just Rufus.
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Post by adina on Jan 5, 2013 14:10:31 GMT
Okay, so the snail member of the Rooftop managed to see Restless yesterday, I hope the after party is still on - let's open another bottle of Chianti of Luigi and celebrate Rufus's talent!  I won't dare to join in the serious conversation though - my only base is a pile of first impressions. Of course I had watched all trailers before, so I was ready to get a gorgeous non-smiling spymaster. Since my source of fun was a computer thingy, I had to check the film (with a random Rufus scene of course), and I saw Lucas Romer speaking fast about the sheer, amazing, exceptional beauty of the way of the map to Roosevelt; the whole man looked like a sparkler and the fangirl in me started to scream: ooooohhh, nothing can be more beautiful than excited Rufus. So I went to do my real life things knowing my evening reward would be 'joy' in capital letters. Walking to the post office I was humming "London is very pleased. Very. London is very pleased. Very. ..." - hah, the innocent happy bunny before the snake swallowed her. Because that is what happened. Ah, yes, Restless is as friendly as a cobra. The main characters are sooo tough and smart....and merciless. Romer's way to recruit Eva made me shiver. From the (one of the most beautifully delivered Rufus lines ever) "My deepest sympathy." to the "Kolia asked me to ask you." he went on doggedly trying to find the perfect grip. (In the Stoppard play Rock'n'Roll, Jan suffered a similar treatment...grrrr!) I loved every scene with Romer (even Morrice's glance towards the empty office: oh, the boss would know what to do) - he ruled in every level. And he looked breathtakingly good. I just can't beleive how Rufus was able to use his wide-ranging repertiore of expressions to express: control. Let's open another bottle of Chianti!! I think the film was really tense (oh, and the violent scenes were very brutal - that last kick or the pencil attack - well, they were nicely dropping these bits throughout the film), in the window scene in Alfie's flat Romer's appearing made my hair stand on end! I saw that gorgeous man and I wanted to climb under my bed, ahhhhh! So I hope after seeing Restless the administration of the Rooftop will set up a double password system and will ban pencil using. And I learned a new greeting form: You are still alive?!  ! P.S. And just to prove that I'm not a team player - I think Eva was very tough. My interpretation of the training scenes is she did it thrilled by the challenge - she was the last who started the you-are-lost-in-nowhere game and she was the first who got home and she looked very proud of herself. |
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Post by kitty on Jan 5, 2013 18:50:56 GMT
Are there any other links to see Restless, if you don't have cable or live in the UK?  |
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Post by kygal on Jan 6, 2013 12:37:25 GMT
Do you have access to I-Player...I think that is how some watched it. I do not have the link though.
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). 
