Alas, alas!

After reading the book and wondering about the quality, I finally watched BBC's production of The Way We Live Now.

To start, it was both better and worse than I had imagined. Matthew Macfadyen and David Suchet had two of the best performances I have ever seen in an adaptation. While reading the book, I had a picture of Sir Felix as blond and angelic-looking, but Matthew Macfadyen (despite his dark hair) became Sir Felix before my eyes, acting with an ability that awed me. I read several interviews with him after hearing he was to play Mr. Darcy, and smiled at how much like Darcy he was. Knowing, then, what I do about him, his excellent performance as the careless and heartless philanderer Sir Felix Carbury was a surprise, but a welcome one. Likewise, David Suchet became Melmotte.

But otherwise, the movie was a sad disappointment. Who cast Paul Montague? He looked no more than eighteen, and his acting made Paul out to be nothing more than a jilt who gets what he wants from pure luck, even though unworthy. And Roger Carbury! The lovable country squire from the book becomes an irrational if moral man. Hetta was bland, Marie had an awful voice, and Mrs. Hurtle was too weak. The book showed the materialistic Victorian Londonites with reality, but the film was harsh. Trollope could show the complex inner lives of his characters with a pity for their sad state; for instance, Roger's fighting with jealousy. The movie characters have no inner lives, and the movie is therefore depressing to watch. I'm not sure if Trollope's characters can be translated well to screen. Great book, unworthy movie.