Aristocrats
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Movie Reviews of Aristocrats
Movie Review: Resplendent
Summary: 4 Stars
"Caroline is clever, Emily is a mother to me, Louisa is an angel and Cecilia is a child. I am a disappointment."
That line (uttered by Sarah Lennox) sums up the tumultuous "Aristocrats," a sumptuous, glittering miniseries about the famous and/or infamous Lennox sisters, who were the great-granddaughters of Charles II and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille. Solid acting and a wonderfully soapy storyline make this a great historical drama, but it spins way out there in the last episode.
The Lennox family splinters when the eldest daughter, Caroline (Serena Gordon) falls in love with an older, ambitious politician, Mr. Fox -- and scandalously elopes with him. Emily (Geraldine Somerville) takes a different approach when she falls for the lusty Lord Kildare (Ben Daniels), and eventually her parents agree. They marry, have seemingly dozens of kids, and are happy despite Kildare's frequent infidelity.
But then Lord and Lady Richmond die, leaving their next three daughters Louisa, Sarah and Cecilia in Emily's care. Louisa (Anne-Marie Duff) gets happily married to a dim, loving husband. But when Sarah (Jodhi May) catches the eye of the timid Prince of Wales, the Foxes desperately maneuver to make her the next queen -- which naturally destroys her chances.
So she marries a very cold, inattentive man, and soon starts gambling, has an affair with a sexy Frenchman -- and elopes with a volatile Harlequin hunk, after having his illegitimate baby. As the family struggles with her disgrace and the brewing war in America, they face new losses and new scandals... and in the years that follow, the family is again thrown into turmoil when Emily's fiery son becomes involved in an Irish revolution...
"The Aristocrats" is kind of like a soap opera from the 1700s -- and it's even juicier when you consider that this stuff happened for real. Multiple adulterous affairs, deaths, feuds, scandals, revolutions, elopements, illegitimate babies, and a king dropping dead on the toilet. And it all more or less happens to one family, over the course of a generation.
And the adaptation wraps the entire era in lush sets and costumes -- big billowing dresses, powdered wigs, sumptuous furniture, opulent mansions, crumbly castles, and the prettily overgrown greenery of their gardens. Frankly, you could get drunk on the scenery alone in this miniseries. David Caffrey does an excellent job soaking the atmosphere into the scenes, whether it's the poignant loneliness of Sarah's "exile," or the sexy interludes between the women and their lovers/husbands.
Problem? The last episode shoots us forward twenty-plus years, and the focus shifts from the remaining sisters to Emily's son Edward, and the "serious" storyline rushes by way too fast. It's not bad, but it feels like an entirely different story was tacked on at the last minute, with all different actors and a totally different focus and "feel."
The actors are good all around: Somerville's brittle yet loving Caroline, Gordon's dutiful yet slightly wicked Emily, and Duff adding a bit of sorrow into the ever-good Louisa. May gives the most astounding performance -- she puts real desperation and sorrow into Sarah's rapid downward slide, and her genuine desire to do the right thing. Lots of frustration, anger, sorrow and finally love in there -- it's simply brilliant.
But the other actors put in good performances too -- Daniels does a great job showing how Kildare loves his wife even if he isn't faithful, and his final scene with Gordon is heartbreaking. George Anton is charming, Alun Armstrong is abrasively interesting, and Tom Mullion is cute in a dim way.
"The Aristocrats" is a solid, sumptuous costume drama with a befuddling final act, but some brilliant acting and direction carry it on through. Sexy, dignified and -- at one time -- scandalous.
Movie Review: BEHIND THE CLOSED DOORS OF THE RICH AND INFLUENTIAL
Summary: 4 Stars
It is always so very amusing, interesting, entertaining and fun to peek, behind the closed doors, at the lives of the rich, famous and socially well-connected. In this opulently produced, wonderfully directed and acted 3 DVD set (consisting of two episodes each and running about 98 minutes each) of a BBC Masterpiece Theater production, we certainly get a really good look at the privileged lives of England's Lennox, family from the 1700s to 1800s. This mini-series is mainly about the l five (5) very independent, pampered and well read Lennox sisters and about their lives, loves, successes, failures etc., as written by Stella Tillyard and as seen through the eyes of one sister Emily Lennox marvelously, in this presentation, narrated by Sian Phillips (as Emily Lennox, in her dodge.) This family was very well connected being related to royalty and having the advantages that goes with those "good connections". However, having "good connections" does not always necessarily make one immune from all of life's "nastiness". So it was with the Lennox family; they had their share of rebelliousness, indiscretions, scandals, deaths, lusts, heartaches, betrayals, political and personal intrigues, etc. that are wonderfully shown and dramatized in this mini-series Of course, all of the aforesaid tribulations make for a fascinating true story especially as presented in this production. No, I have not read Tillyard's book; therefore, I won't do the comparison thing. All that I can say is that this mini-series is splendid and that it kept this viewer very well entertained.
The sets and recreation of the era(s) are simply marvelous--BBC is really so very good at doing these so-called "costume epics". This presentation certainly maintains their lofty standards! "The Aristocrats" is indeed so marvelously rich in its details as is exhibited in the production ranging from the costumes, wigs, carriages to the lavish sets. To be rather cliché: It was almost as if I were there! As expected, the acting is outstanding too.
Movie Review: Climax Interruptus
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a big fan of Masterpiece Theatre and really enjoyed the first five episodes of Aristocrats, however as a previous reviewer mentioned, the abrupt shift of ages from episode five to six was so disjointed and unsettling that I could scarcely follow the story. I really didn't have a problem with them not aging at all or seemingly very little in the first five episodes that spanned roughly 30 years. I didn't even have a problem with the fact that Emily, who bore 22 children in the course of her life was never shown pregnant, but to become attached to these characters only to have the entire cast replaced by older actors for the final episode was a real disappointment. Honestly, I would have preferred signs on their heads that read "pretend I'm 62 now". Even really terrible aging make-up would have been more easily tolerated. At least their voices would have provided some continuity and recognition for faithful viewers. Having to constantly figure out who was who, so far into the story, really inhibited my enjoyment of watching the climax and squelched my emotional reaction considerably. Still, episodes 1 through 5 were beautiful, superbly acted and engrossing, making the investment well worth the ultimate let down of episode 6.Movie Review: Too Long, but worth a rental
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this, it was a good chronicle of an English aristocratic family in the 18th century spanning a few generations. Of course it had some beautiful scenery and nice production values, I didn't find it as interesting as Pride/Prejudice or Wives/Daughters and the Dickens miniseries though.
One glaringly bad thing is the passage of years in the characters is not pulled off very well, all of them seem to be the same age for the first 5 episodes and then in the final episode all of a sudden everyone goes from 30 to 90! It was tough to follow what was going on due to that shift. Also most of the actors are fairly ugly to look at, like the salaried BBC ones on their television series. All in all worth the watch but I wouldn't watch it more than that like the above mentioned series.
As others have mentioned it's interesting for the first 2 discs but I gradually lost interest in the story, the final episode I watched while doing other things, this series falls into the Walmart/Titanic syndrome, all things for all people, too sprawling a story that loses it's punch after one sitting.
Movie Review: Great until the cast change at the end...
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed this serious. Yes it was a bit, as some others mentioned, on the slower and possibly boring side I guess, but if you like Elisabeth Gaskell stories than you're no stranger to slow plots.
The missing star is for the last episode which I'm sure I would have enjoyed, however, all of the main characters were portrayed by different actors. IF they had just kept the same actors and added makeup to make them appear aged, I would have been able to follow along better. It was just extremely confusing.
STILL buy this serious, you'll most likely enjoy it, it just was not the most...satisfying ending because of the cast changes.