BBC: Wives and Daughters (complete)

[meganbmoore]

Set in (I believe-it’s never actually stated and I haven’t watched the special features yet, or read the book) the 1860s, Wives and Daughters is about Molly Gibson, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a rural doctor. When he catches one of his apprentices trying to sneak Molly a love letter, Dr. Gibson send Molly away to stay with the Hamleys, an old Saxon family who lives nearby. While she’s away, he proposes to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, a widow with a daughter, Cynthia, who is near Molly’s age, with both thinking that their respective daughters will benefit from the marriage, as they will then have both a mother and a father. During her visit, Molly heard much about the Hamley’s two sons, Roger and Osborn. Roger, the younger son, is a scientist, and their father’s favorite, while Osborn, the older son, is a poet, and his mother’s favorite. Due to their parents’ talk of the brothers, Molly is predisposed to like Osborn and to judge Roger, but soon comes to value Roger as a friend once they meet.

Cynthia and Molly become friends almost immediately, though they are as different as it is possible to be. Molly is a bit naïve, but smart, honest and blunt, while Cynthia is well intentioned, but flighty and shallow, and far too fond of secrets and intrigues. Despite that, it’s easy to believe that they really are close, and to believe Cynthia’s claims that she loves Molly better than anyone else. The new Mrs. Gibson is a frustratingly entertaining character to watch, but almost impossible to live with, as she’s very obsessed with things being proper and done the right way, and is very much the stereotypical “Matchmaking Mama,” obsessed with making a good match for the girls, and chasing off those she does not deem suitable. All three actresses-Justine Waddell (Molly), Keeley Hawes (Cynthia) and Francesca Annis (Mrs. Gibson)-did amazing jobs. Another character I loved was Lady Harriet, a local noblewoman who takes an interest in and befriends Molly. Actually, I think I’ve been in fandom for far, far too long, because despite being well aware that things had a different social and personal meaning back then, I couldn’t help but think that a couple of her scenes with Molly were slashy, if one-sided.

I will not lie: I spent most of the miniseries alternating between “I will absolutely die if Molly and Roger don’t get married!” and “Roger! You are being stupid and are no longer allowed to marry Molly!” These transitions sometimes occurred very quickly. Also, this is likely a personal tastes thing, but I always thought it was odd when they’d talk about how Roger wasn’t as good looking as Osborn, because I thought Roger was better looking. There are a lot of interesting things in the series about the relationships between mothers and daughters and fathers and daughters (and, to a lesser degree, fathers and sons) as well as relationships between men and women in general, but I suspect that I need to read the book to get the full deal there.

I also realize now why the acting and production values in Torchwood threw me so much: I’m used to BBC’s period pieces, which tend to be pretty superior on all levels, aside from a few obvious blue screen scenes that show up in some of them.

Comments

[princess-dexter.livejournal.com]

I lovelovelove Wives and Daughters, even though no one has ever heard of it! People are always familiar with P&P and quite a few have seen North and South but W&D seems to be the black sheep of the BBC production family and I never know why. It such a lovely story and Molly is such an endearing protagonist, and Roger, far from being rich/charming/amazing is just such a nice man that you want to squish him and Molly together.

Not to mention the cast! Francesca Annis is the scheming mama in everything (have you seen the most recent adaptation of Jane Eyre?), Michael Gambon is Dumbledore and Tom Hollander was in the last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I just wish the luminous Justine Waddell would appear in more things - I went to the secondhand dvd store recently and actually bought Dracula 2000 just because she was in it. :(

And Elizabeth Gaskell died before finishing the book, so it's not a particularly satisfying read. I did buy it and read it a few years ago but I have a terrible book-memory so I can't remember if it showed more layers with all the relationships.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Francesca Annis is amazing. And I agree that it's very strange that Justine Waddell doesn't seem to do more.

[anime-babble.livejournal.com]

I liked most of this up to the end, where they ran out of time in my opinion to really convince me that Roger was completely over Cynthia and was now in love with Molly. The fact that the novel is unfinished and they had to make up the ending is probably a big factor there.

So it was ok, but it didn't quite reach the levels my favorite BBC productions did.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I read him as being in love with Molly all along but not realizing it, and being smitten with Cynthia because she was the kind of girl men fall for.

[meganinhiding.livejournal.com]

I love Wives and Daughters too; particulary the relationship between Molly and Cynthia. Too many books, series or movies would have made them antagonists rather than friends.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have liked it if they'd been enemies, or, for that matter, if Cynthia had been different.

[sexynun.livejournal.com]

I'm so interested in this series now... is it on DVD that you saw it or on tv?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

DVD. It's a few years old.

[sexynun.livejournal.com]

Ok cool.. I will have to purchase or rent it!!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Added to my Instant queue on Netflix!