Review of Birdsong

I will begin by saying that I am a fan of the novel and that I entered into this adaptation with some trepidation. I need not have. It's not the same as the novel, as no TV/adaptation ever is, but it is true to it. It's true to the feel more so than sticking religiously to the story. Without giving too much away the scenes set in 1910 are thick and heavy with meaning and heat and sexual frustration. They're meant to be slow, lazy, decadent days; they are the kind of days you want to sink your teeth into. The colours are lush and rich. They contrast beautifully with the war scenes, with their bleached, washed out palette. This is an unfamiliar and alien land but visually it has it's own striking features. The first days of the Somme, the battle we're leading up to, were fought in heat and dust and dirt. The rain and the mud came later.

The main characters are not meant to be likable. They begin as self focused, blinkered lovers and end as broken and damaged souls. Their self obsession runs deep, they hurt those around them and they leave little left of one another. Both actors portray this well. They're short on time to go from strangers to obsessive lovers, not a problem the novel has, but the glances are weighty and they're both rather wonderful to look at, like the well bred, out of control aristocrats they portray, all lips, eyes and cheekbones.

It's slow, it's interwoven and it involves a certain amount of accepting that love, war and sex can lead to all sorts of madness but if you let yourself melt into it I don't think you'll be sorry. If you then read the novel you'll be less sorry still.