He Knew He Was Right
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Movie Reviews of He Knew He Was Right
Movie Review: A BBC Mixed Blessing
Summary: 3 Stars
I am a great fan of BBC's adaptions from Victorian literature. However, "He Knew He Was Right" stuck an off note with me. The portrait of a shipwrecked marriage rang true in the beginning. The jealously combined with the need to be right rang true, but I found the husband's physical and mental dissolution difficult to understand. Upon reflection, I suppose he was suffering from an advanced case of depression: a malady that is not often associated with the Victorians. It was a relief to everyone when he finally expired with same melancholy vapidity with which he lived.
The characters in this production bordered more on characture than fully developed characters. The young wife's independence was sketched and suggested by the fact she went barefoot and played ball prior to her marriage, and her so-called independence of spirit only surfaces with her insistence on receiving daily visits from her god-father. This was less the exercise of feminine rights than exercise of tolerance for a dead bore in a well tied neckcloth.
The remaining characters fell further yet into the realm of cartoon: especially the American heiress who had nothing more to her credit then long leg bones, a hank of red hair and the flat accent attributed to wealthy Yankee women.
There are worse ways to spend a couple of hours, but there are also a lot better ways to spend the same number of hours: Barchester Towers is a better production by far.
Movie Review: not trollpe's trademark humor
Summary: 3 Stars
This BBC series, "He Knew He Was Right" is based on an Anthony Trollope novel. As usual the BBC's production is exquisite, the cinematography is magnificent and the performances outstanding.
The story centers on a young couple and their son. Emily, the wife, persists in maintaining a friendly relationship with her Godfather and her father's best friend, Colonel Osborne, a man who is disreputable and who caused the dissolution of other marriages. Emily, however, innocently believes that she has every right to continue seeing the Colonel, played by the brilliant Bill Nighy.
As Louie, her husband, discovers her defiance in still seeing and flirting with Osborne, he believes she has committed adultery. The story is never clear why she does this. Is she really guilty of adultery? The situation literally drives him insane.
The plot has four other romantic relationships: Louie's best friend and Emily's sister Nora; a rather boring couple who are niece and nephew on opposite sides of a family; a Lord Glasgow and an American Socialite that is intriguing and undeveloped; and the hilarious Reverend Gibson caught between the claws and fangs of two bitterly rivalrous sisters.
This may be a period piece but the angst and obsession would be as relevant in today's modern drama. The story leads to an inevitable tragic conclusion. To sample Trollope's inimitable humor, read "Barchester Towers".
Movie Review: Good subplots
Summary: 3 Stars
The main story was depressing, but have to admit that the subplots were very good: one involving a Bishop and two "French" women, and another a very demanding spinster. Bill Nighy's character was quite amusing in a poppycock way, although his behavior was at the root of the evil that led to the main character's decline.
Okay, but if it wasn't for the subplots, would not have enjoyed.
Movie Review: Who was right?
Summary: 3 Stars
Very enjoyable costume drama, rather hard to tell some of the characters apart at times; really delightful character parts by David Tennant as the flirtatious vicar and Anna Massey as the AuntMovie Review: good screenplaying;terrible plots
Summary: 2 Stars
I am fully agree with Anthony Trollope that this "He knew he was right" was totally a failure. Andrew Davies is sort of a genius, he couldn't do better screenplay works, and the actresses are elegant and charming;the actors debonair and spruce. Only the plots spoiled it all. I have squandered hours on such a tv series and in the end I don't understand a thing. The only thing I know is that this Trevelyan is the blokehead among all the blokeheads on this planet. The plots are based, if not entirely, at least mostly, on absurdity. How can such things be true? And what big stuff can the reader learn from this story? The characteres are vividly depicted, and there is humour interwoven with the plots too. But I cannot learn something remarkable about ways of living, about morality etc. This story, generally speaking, is about three marriages. Emily's, Nora's, and Dorothy's. Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice are about marriages too. But they can be claimed as great works but this "right" cannot be classified as classic. Definitely Andrew chose one of the worse work of this literary giant's to dramatise.
I will give five stars for music, acting, screening. But I will give no star at all for the plots. if you want to appreciate Andrew Davies's genius, this tv series may be a good chance-I think he did a better job in screenplaying than in Bleak House. But if you want to watch it to appreciate Anthony's genius, or to learn something useful, you'd better never touch this one.