fajrdrako | Parade's End... (Reply)

My friends and I loved Downton Abbey, and we can hardly wait for season three to begin in January. So we sat down to watch Parade's End with some anticipation and hope - it's Edwardian, it's got actors we like (like Benedict Cumberbatch and Rufus Sewell)... and it turns out to have beautiful cinematography. So why were we disappointed?

Because, unlike Downton Abbey, it just isn't any fun.

I blame the writers. IMDb credits it to Ford Maddox Ford, but since he died seventy years ago, someone else must have written the script... Oh yeah. Tom Stoppard. Right.

I thought it had several major problems...

None of the characters were particulary endearing
Benedict Cumberbatch, who can be adorable, was simply monotonously glum
I couldn't track who all the characters were, and didn't catch enough names
Although it was the kind of historical soap opera that generally is meant to appeal to a female audience, I thought it seemed as if it were written from a man's point of view, with no attempt to make the women seem like real, three-dimensional characters.

So: a disappointment. At least we still have Downton Abbey coming up.

Addendum: Pim, whom I watched it withsays it's semi-autobriographical, and that the producers are infatuated with the actress playing Sophie, whom she compares to Lana Lang. We're supposed to love Sophie, not think she's a scheming bitch.

Hey. It's all in the portrayal.

I see this a male romance-fantasy: hero encounters a woman who is bowled over by him sexually. But he doesn't really love her so she turns to other man to "catch his attention" or "make him jealous". Then he becomes the object of desire of a smart, pretty young thing who thinks he's the 'splendidest'. So he is chastely adored.

Women's romances don't quite go that way. She could show him some real affection. She could pretend to be interested in math, or horses. Faugh! They're both idiots.

What's worse, I think, is that Tietjens isn't even attractive. And to make Benedict Cumberbatch seem unattractive is something you have to work at.