The BBC does it again!
Jan. 21st, 2012 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birdienlAfter watching The Mystery of Edwin Drood yesterday, it has been confirmed for me again: Dickens and the BBC remain a winning combination.
While Downton Abbey has shown ITV can also make high-profile period dramas with immaculate cinematography, I believe adaptations of classic novels are still in the best hands with 'Aunty Beeb'. They have certainly spoiled classics lovers like me with two brand new Dickens adaptations in quick succession, Great Expecatations between Christmas and the New Year and Edwin Drood in the second week of 2012. Both great adaptations in it's own right, Great Expectations was mainly a feast for the eyes with each scene as pretty as a picture. While Edwin Drood has all the advantage of wonderful acting and a less often told (and partially original) storyline.
Edwin Drood is based upon Dicken's last novel, which was left unfinished when the author died rather unexpectedly. The story revolves around a love-triangle of sorts: young and beautiful orphan Rosa Bud is engaged to Edwin Drood, while his uncle, choirmaster John Jasper secretly loves Rosa from a distance. John Jasper is a haunted man and tries to keep his pain away by taking laudanum. In his laudanum induced dreams he often kills his nephew Edwin, while guilt over this thoughts consumes him in his lucid moments. Then Edwin Drood mysteriously dissapears on a stormy evening...
The acting in this adaptation was truly fenomenal. While the titular character Edwin Drood does not have such a large role, his uncle John Jasper, played by Matthew Rhys almost jumps from the screen with intensity. He is a villain (or is he?) you don't know whether to hate or to pity. His brooding good looks certainly play a role in this, but it's much more than that: the way he can change his character's behaviour radically in two consecutive scenes makes it look as if his John Jasper consists of two persons, which is very effective. It was a great joy to see some familiar faces of the British period drama world play the smaller characters: Alun Armstrong as Rosa's guardian Mr. Grewgious and Julia McKenzie as Mrs. Crisparkle.
Dickens' works recently adapted have a similarity in the fact that the distinction between good and evil characters is not as clear as in some of Dicken's other works. They therefore both have a strong and poignant message about human relationships and both asks questions as to what determines behaviour of certain people, what the reasons are behind their wrongful doings. John Jasper and Miss Havisham are complex characters, much more than just the villains of the novel, which will have you thinking about them for a while after watching these adaptations. Coincidentally, I read a quote of Dickens today on my Facebook page, which I think fits well with both Edwin Drood and Great Expectations: 'I confess I have yet to learn that a lesson of the purest good may not be drawn from the vilest evil."
Special about Edwin Drood is that we will never know the ending Dickens himself had thought out for the story. Therefore, this recent adaptation is in part an original work. Though I have not read the novel and therefore do not know exactly how far the story goes in there, I must say, the ending of the BBC adaptation 'felt' right and flowed smoothly from the previous happenings. As often in Dickens' stories, the mystery unfolded itself layer by layer. The only thing I disliked about the adaptation was its relative brevity: only two hours in which to establish characters and unravel a mystery.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is certainly a dark story and as much of a thriller as Dickens ever wrote. There are lighter and comical moments and ofcourse the eccentric smaller characters, so distinctive of Dickens' works, but they seem to play smaller roles in Edwin Drood compared to the other works I've read and seen. In the adaptation there is even a sweet love story. But the main story is a dark one, leading to some hefty scenes in the adaptation. This is not a period drama for a lazy evening after a hard day of work. But it is absolutely well worth watching and talking and thinking about afterwards, perhaps with some friends or perhaps here on Livejournal!
Now, if there was one thing the BBC could still learn from ITV was how to promote all these wonderful miniseries better, so more people could enjoy them!
While Downton Abbey has shown ITV can also make high-profile period dramas with immaculate cinematography, I believe adaptations of classic novels are still in the best hands with 'Aunty Beeb'. They have certainly spoiled classics lovers like me with two brand new Dickens adaptations in quick succession, Great Expecatations between Christmas and the New Year and Edwin Drood in the second week of 2012. Both great adaptations in it's own right, Great Expectations was mainly a feast for the eyes with each scene as pretty as a picture. While Edwin Drood has all the advantage of wonderful acting and a less often told (and partially original) storyline.
Edwin Drood is based upon Dicken's last novel, which was left unfinished when the author died rather unexpectedly. The story revolves around a love-triangle of sorts: young and beautiful orphan Rosa Bud is engaged to Edwin Drood, while his uncle, choirmaster John Jasper secretly loves Rosa from a distance. John Jasper is a haunted man and tries to keep his pain away by taking laudanum. In his laudanum induced dreams he often kills his nephew Edwin, while guilt over this thoughts consumes him in his lucid moments. Then Edwin Drood mysteriously dissapears on a stormy evening...
The acting in this adaptation was truly fenomenal. While the titular character Edwin Drood does not have such a large role, his uncle John Jasper, played by Matthew Rhys almost jumps from the screen with intensity. He is a villain (or is he?) you don't know whether to hate or to pity. His brooding good looks certainly play a role in this, but it's much more than that: the way he can change his character's behaviour radically in two consecutive scenes makes it look as if his John Jasper consists of two persons, which is very effective. It was a great joy to see some familiar faces of the British period drama world play the smaller characters: Alun Armstrong as Rosa's guardian Mr. Grewgious and Julia McKenzie as Mrs. Crisparkle.
Dickens' works recently adapted have a similarity in the fact that the distinction between good and evil characters is not as clear as in some of Dicken's other works. They therefore both have a strong and poignant message about human relationships and both asks questions as to what determines behaviour of certain people, what the reasons are behind their wrongful doings. John Jasper and Miss Havisham are complex characters, much more than just the villains of the novel, which will have you thinking about them for a while after watching these adaptations. Coincidentally, I read a quote of Dickens today on my Facebook page, which I think fits well with both Edwin Drood and Great Expectations: 'I confess I have yet to learn that a lesson of the purest good may not be drawn from the vilest evil."
Special about Edwin Drood is that we will never know the ending Dickens himself had thought out for the story. Therefore, this recent adaptation is in part an original work. Though I have not read the novel and therefore do not know exactly how far the story goes in there, I must say, the ending of the BBC adaptation 'felt' right and flowed smoothly from the previous happenings. As often in Dickens' stories, the mystery unfolded itself layer by layer. The only thing I disliked about the adaptation was its relative brevity: only two hours in which to establish characters and unravel a mystery.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is certainly a dark story and as much of a thriller as Dickens ever wrote. There are lighter and comical moments and ofcourse the eccentric smaller characters, so distinctive of Dickens' works, but they seem to play smaller roles in Edwin Drood compared to the other works I've read and seen. In the adaptation there is even a sweet love story. But the main story is a dark one, leading to some hefty scenes in the adaptation. This is not a period drama for a lazy evening after a hard day of work. But it is absolutely well worth watching and talking and thinking about afterwards, perhaps with some friends or perhaps here on Livejournal!
Now, if there was one thing the BBC could still learn from ITV was how to promote all these wonderful miniseries better, so more people could enjoy them!
