Reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed the costumes, period settings, beautiful horses and carriages and landscape views, as well as the story Austen told so well. "Fanny" needed a little less stiff performance; I wonder if the director considered a voice over to let the audience know more of the rich inner world that Fanny reveals in the book. By forcing the audience to rely on the visual picture, and a somewhat awkward conversational language, a lot is left out that would have helped to explain Fanny's true situation. If one had recently read the novel, this could be supplied from memory; but a film (or TV) series should expect to supply that information somehow. Austen still leaves us, through this faithful adaptation, hopeful that good character, conscience, and courage do sometimes triumph over situations and people that are beyond our control.

My husband and I just read the Odyssey together and this film was such a wonderful visualization! The settings, the sea, the magical gods' voices and appearances were absorbing and believable. I especially enjoyed the costuming; we see frozen images of people in ancient Greek dress but they moved with the wearers, just as our clothes do, and they helped create a very sensual impression of ancient Greek life. Although the interiors were a little bare, they were believable too and I enjoyed the colors and paintings that gave life to otherwise stony buildings. I have visited much of the Mediterranean and love the bleached ruins of the Greeks and Romans, but they had colors when they were new--it was exciting to see them that way. The actors were also believable, esp. Assant as Odysseus, conveying both drama and excitement. Some viewers seem to miss the fact that Odysseus survived the Trojan war and would have gotten home faster if he had not offended Poseidon, the god of the sea, by bragging about his performance. Poseidon makes sure he suffers before he reaches home, enlisting his relatives and friends, while Odysseus persists in his goal of reaching his loving wife and home. Altogether a terrific film. I want a DVD version to watch it again--the library video we saw had some jumpy places!