This Year's Love reviews

Two of em, neither available online. Primero, Martin Hoyle of the Financial Times, February 18th 1999.

The characters rarely rise above stereotype, from Jennifer Ehle's posh girl with a nostalgie de la boue ("I went to Roedean - would you believe it?" she signals, just in case we don't) to Dougray Scott's voracious womaniser and Ian Hart's Scouse nerd. Kathy Burke's airport cleaner-cum-pub singer almost comes to life, though again given too much articulate self-awareness to ring true. The cast is pretty good, though Ehle's perpetual sweetness (she deploys un certain sourire and not much else) hardly indicates the spoilt slummer. Admirably, however, unlike that other sexual merry-go-round with Ehle, the twee Bedrooms and Hallways (shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival but not so far released), this film shows a seething London that actually looks as grubby, tacky and tawdry as the capital of Cool Britannia really is.

How prétentieux is it to randomly drop phrases en français? Sacrebleu.

Segundo, from the Leicester Mercury on the same date.

For this diverting take on the dating game, writer-director David Kane has to be complimented for his sharp observational skills and ability to translate 'real' people and situations into a satisfying drama, which shuns happy endings. It also boasts an excellent cast, with Burke, McCormack and Ehle justifying their position at the forefront of the new wave of British film actresses. Although I doubt anyone involved would welcome the comparison, This Year's Love is a kind of Breakfast Club for the late nineties - but with the emphasis on greasy bacon and eggs rather than lightly buttered toast! THE lovers whose wedding day bust-up sparks the romantic complications in This Year's Love, are played by rising British stars Catherine McCormack and Douglas Henshall.

PS. I'm going away from tomorrow until Feburary 1st. Chelsea's in charge til then (gluck!). You can contact her at jenniferehle2@hotmail.com. Mail sent to jenniferehle@gmail.com won't be read until my return.

This is cheating

Blogging without doing any work. It's fantastic! Here's a new batch of photos sent by Josie (who also has a new site about actress Kelly Reilly, check it out).


Click to enlarge.

This batch includes:

5 enlargened Philadelphia Story stills

5 Wilde premiere photos

2 Tartuffe stills

1 loverly shot from Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth

2 photos from the Camomile Lawn days (one is shown above)

4 photos from the 1998 BAFTAs (aka the "she woz robbed" BAFTAs)

Awwww over

This is an interview in the Newark Star Ledger about Rosemary Harris' 2002 play All Over. Look, isn't this adorable?

Rosemary Harris is all wrong for her role in Edward Albee's "All Over." That's because in the revival of the 1971 play - opening at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton on Saturday night - Harris plays a mother who has come to hate her daughter. "She's so disappointed in her," Harris says. "She says the girl has made `a rubble' of her life. It must be awkward to have progeny who disappoint you." She stops and gives a full-throated laugh. "I wouldn't know." For Harris is the mother of Jennifer Ehle, who two seasons ago won a Tony Award for starring in "The Real Thing." The irony is that Harris was one of her rival nominees, for "Waiting in the Wings." "And if I had won," Harris says, "you would have seen the wrong sort of tears pouring down my cheeks. I would have been devastated, and that's not just altruism on my part. She shouldn't have her mum take it away from her. It was her turn."
...
"When I was thinking about doing `All Over,' I wondered how I was going to perform it, considering that nothing in my life has prepared me for it. I am an actress," she stresses, "but I couldn't imagine not loving my daughter. But then a friend reminded me of our next door neighbor in North Carolina who wouldn't speak to her children and cut them out of her life. She's become my inspiration." [more]

(In other news, headline lameness hits a record low)

Budapest Sun on Sunshine

A Hungarian perspective.

Despite the strong and often shameful subject matter, Sunshine is a film for which Hungarians can be really proud. Directed by István Szabó, the epic spans generations and covers weighty topics such as history, religion, roots, love, hatred and prejudice. It is the first film for a long while to earn the title of a truly great work of cinema.
...
Gustav (James Frain), the left-wing conscience of the story, is in love with his adopted sister Vali who falls for Ignác (Fiennes). Vali’s character is played by the talented actress Jennifer Ehle (This year’s love, Wilde), her real life mother actress Rosemary Harris plays Vali in later life.

Although the three characters Ignác, son Ádám and grandson Iván are all played by Fiennes, it seems like Vali is at the real core of the film. Her character spans the generations, and as a photographer she observes the events of history, both personal and the larger east European tragedy.

Convert

Laura S. Moncur of The Quotations Page admits to being a Janeite despite (gasp) not being a "frilly girl"....

I don't like dresses or pretty things. I fantasize about setting fires more than men. I enjoy learning about hoaxes and scams much more than learning about manners and correct speech. I find no interest in romance, because I'm too busy accruing interest in finance. I enjoy my life as a woman who can do whatever she wants in this world. Why, then, do I like Jane Austen's novels?

Er, because of all of the above? Besides the pyromania. And because of the below:

I must admit that this rendition of Pride and Prejudice is what started it all for me. Seeing Jennifer Ehle play the feisty Elizabeth Bennett made me love Jane Austen. Colin Firth plays a dark and brooding Mr. Darcy with curly locks and glaring glances. I bought this set at full price and it was well worth it.

Our cup runneth over

Yep! Even more photos from Josie. 16 stills this time: Summerfolk, The Real Thing, Bedrooms & Hallways, Paradise Road, This Year's Love and a rare Pleasure one.

Beyond Reason controversy

TV censured for murder re-enactment - Penny McAllister
By Nicholas Hellen
29 October 1995
The Sunday Times
(c) 1995 Times Newspapers Ltd

A television drama that reconstructed the murder of Penny McAllister by the mistress of her army officer husband has been censured for an invasion of privacy.

Carlton Television, which broadcast the programme, Beyond Reason, last February, has been ordered to carry an on-air apology to the victim's parents and husband in a ruling by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC).

The formal censure, which follows a lengthy investigation, is likely to discourage other broadcasters from pursuing similar reconstructions of real-life crimes. One production company, Red Rooster, is reconsidering its plans to film the story of Stephanie Slater, the estate agent who was kidnapped by Michael Sams.

However, last night the executive producer of Beyond Reason, Rod Gilchrist, was defiant. "Intrusion into privacy is a very serious matter and it is important in television that there are guidelines and there are rules," said Gilchrist, who is also deputy editor of The Mail on Sunday. "But I personally reject the finding, and I won't bow the knee. The facts were already in the public arena."

More than 12m viewers saw the actress Jennifer Ehle play the part of the 24-year-old victim, who was murdered by Susan Christie, her husband's lover. The film showed the knife attack on Penny in a deserted wood in Northern Ireland, with the cameras only switching away at the moment of the stabbing.

In an unfortunate coincidence, Ehle will appear on screen tonight as the bride of Darcy in the final episode of BBC1's serialisation of Pride and Prejudice.

Penny McAllister's parents, Des and Norma Squire, at first tried to persuade Kensington Films, the makers of Beyond Reason, to scrap the programme, complaining that it was "totally degrading" to the memory of their daughter. Des Squire said that he was on the edge of a breakdown and had to take early retirement from his job as a primary school headmaster. When he failed to block it, he took the case to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and was joined by Penny's husband, Duncan McAllister. Their complaint was backed by the Conservative MP for Arundel, Sir Michael Marshall, and the former minister Richard Needham.

Gilchrist's defence turned on his claim that Penny's parents and her husband had co-operated with newspaper articles and books which covered the same territory. He said McAllister had raised no objections when he sold his story to the Daily Mail.

"He told the most intimate details of his private life and gave the most personal photographs," said Gilchrist. "He talked about how he first seduced his wife and how he first seduced Susan Christie, for which he received financial gain from the Daily Mail. That is not disputed.

"We were attempting to come to an arrangement with McAllister for him to be a consultant and adviser on the film. That broke down not because he didn't want the film made but over areas of the contract."

Christie was released from prison last month after serving three and a half years of a nine-year sentence for manslaughter. There was an outcry from the Penny's father who said he hoped the "hideous deed" would haunt Christie beyond the grave.

Peter Pilkington, chairman of the BCC, was not available for comment.

MORE photos!

Josie has sent in six more photos from The Real thing and Summerfolk. All but a couple are new to me.

The kindness of strangers

Josie of A Genius at Work is officially inducted into my personal Hall of People Who Really Rock. She's just e-mailed this enormous package of 59, yes FIFTY-NINE, gorgeous photos.

You can see all of them as thumbnails in the blog's Photobucket album, in the "Josie's pics" subfolder. Click on a photo you want to see enlarged, then right-click or ctrl-click and choose to save it.

Some you may have come across before, but there are a good number that I can't remember seeing elsewhere. Of the new ones there a few more unwatermarked Philadelphia Story stills, some photos from awards ceremonies and other events, and many from magazine or newspaper shoots that weren't chosen for publication.

I've also just made public the blog's full Photobucket album containing lots of photos posted here (but not all, so the most comprehensive listing of photos is still in the index). There won't be any surprises for those who have been reading us from the beginning, but new visitors might want to have a look. If you're wondering at the more incongruous images, it's because I use this album to host avatars and such.

[edit: there are four more photos Josie just sent. They're from that blue-background series]

Mr & Mrs Darcy

You can by these prints from eBay.

There's also an auction for Tatler with Jennifer Ehle on the cover:

I thought this was cute

I just finished watching the Pride and Prejudice mini-series, all 5 hours of it :D. it was so surreal to watch it after the 2005 version, seeing different actors display the exact same mannerisms of their character was..odd. Bingley in particular—both actors had the same goofy/endearing facial expressions. I LOVED Jennifer Ehle as Lizzy though. I have this weird fixation on her mouth and how perfect her little smiles were. Clearly I am insane from staring at it for 5 hours. Oh, and her eyes twinkled so much they put Dumbledore to shame XD. I love Keira Knightly, but she just can’t compare.

By Livejournaler Kyoko.

Blogs on The Other Side

Margo Channing's feline-like review (this is one of the kinder remarks, believe it or not):

Too bad that two of our greatest actors -- Harris and Cullum -- found themselves saddled with such unsalvageable material. They do what they can, but they don't have believable characters that make any actual sense from moment to moment, so even their formidable talents come off mostly as muted here.

R.J. Keefe of Portico says:

Rosemary Harris is Broadway's grande dame. She is our Helen Hayes, our Lynn Fontanne. At a minimum!
...
The actors do their best to ham things up. Thank heaven for that. Slyly - I'm not sure that I ought to say this - the two pros play to the audience, jettisoning any illusion of their being alone in a remote cabin. No; they're great actors on the New York stage. That ought to be an insult, but given the thinness of Mr Dorfman's material, it's an absolute blessing. Why, I can hear Ms Harris herself saying just that, nodding her head pensively while brandishing her soup ladle at the audience and pretending not to smirk. "That's just what it is - an Absolute blessing."

Those were the days

Remember back in the good old days when Pride and Prejudice was screened for the very first time? No, me neither, but here's a review of the first screening of the first episode. By Matthew Bond of The Times, 25th September 1995.

Six weeks from now, we will sigh, wipe away a tear or two and begin worrying about how on earth we are going to fill the remaining Sunday evenings before Christmas. Pride and Prejudice (BBC1) will have been a triumph, a worthy successor to the corporation's acclaimed adaptation of Middlemarch.

But for 20 minutes of last night's first episode it was touch and go. There was something vaguely patronising about an opening scene that so blatantly exploited that most familiar of period drama cliches, the thundering hooves. Just for a brief moment, I thought Andrew Davies, the novel's adaptor, might have over-ruled Jane Austen and decided that Elizabeth Bennet could ride well after all. But no.

Thundering hooves mean only one thing or rather two things. Breeches and testosterone. Our leading men had arrived. "Ooh look, there's a nice house," said one. "I'll take it," said the other. And with their macho credentials duely established, they thundered off in the general direction of scene two. Just to make sure we had got the point, Elizabeth then skipped prettily down the lane in one of those nightie things that costume designers insist were worn during the day in the early 19th-century.

Then there was Carl Davis's score, the sort of classical pastiche that he churns out by the yard. For the first ten minutes I could scarcely hear anything else apart from the thundering hooves. But gradually, bar by bar, it faded into the unfailingly pretty background.

But the biggest obstacle was the female casting. We may not have been singing the score yet, but you certainly spent many of the early scenes muttering about where you've seen whatshername before? Actually, with the likes of Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Julia Sawalha and Anna Chancellor it was more a case of where hadn't you. Collectively their credits ranged from The Camomile Lawn to House of Cards, from Absolutely Fabulous to Four Weddings and a Funeral. In short, they arrive with an initially distracting amount of baggage.

Of course, their equally distinguished male counterparts do so, too but in a less unsettling way. "I don't think he would be quite so handsome if he were not quite so rich," says Elizabeth (Ehle) after catching her first glimpse of Darcy, played by Colin Firth. And she is right. Firth's Darcy broods magnificently, but is not so handsome. More importantly, however, Firth is one of those fortunate actors who manages to look different in each part he plays. The same cannot be said of the instantly recognisable, strong-featured faces of Ehle, Harker and Chancellor.

Casting such well known actresses, however, does have two important benefits. First, we know perfectly well that by episode three we will have forgotten that they ever played anyone else and second, it makes keeping tabs on who's who (with everyone wearing the same frocks and hair) a great deal easier. Only when he had got down to the Lucas daughters was Davies reduced to such helpful reminders as: "Oh look, Charlotte has come."

But all these reservations (together with a minor worry about whether Darcy would have played billiards with a modern style cue) began to pass after 20 minutes. Ehle and Harker may not be everybody's idea of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet, but they have the spirited wit, the intelligence and the charm that Austen would have wanted.

As for the author's humour, it is in safe hands with Davies gently tickling the lines into shapes acceptable to the modern ear, and Benjamin Whitrow and Alison Steadman as Mr and Mrs Bennet having a whale of a time delivering them. Anyone who thinks Steadman might be just a teensy bit over the top need only return to the book for reassurance. It's all there.

Miss Piggy and Tracy Lord

What do they have in common? Unflattering costumes, according to The Times' roundup of the ups and downs of fashion in 2005 (28/12/2005).

Living up to the inimitable Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story was a tall order for Jennifer Ehle, and the costumes only hindered her. Lacking the panache and theatricality required for such an exuberant character, they left us longing for the film versions.

Andrew Davies Q&A report

This is a report from Pemberlean Mary-L, who attended a talk by Andrew Davies.

Some background on CF's role as Darcy: AD said that CF's previous career had been as a character actor, not a leading man, and that Sue Birtwhistle (P&P2 producer) had persuaded him to consider the role. He had not read any Austen; he then read P&P but not far enough to know if Darcy gets Elizabeth, when he agreed to do the role. Then he found out from the script how the story turns out. AD referred to CF as "rather sweet" in going on to read all six novels and coaching Jennifer Ehle in her part as EB. (He also referred rather pointedly to their relationship during filming.)

There's also another Ehle-related report from a visit to Sudbury.

There was an exhibit from Pride and Prejudice on the upper floors. This included correspondence arranging for the use of the hall, some script pages, publicity shots and candid photos (including one of Jennifer Ehle in costume wearing a huge hair net and smoking a cigarette). Some of the P&P costumes were also on exhibit: Mrs. Hurst’s orange number, a Mrs. Bennet dress, Mr. Bingley’s wedding clothes, Elizabeth’s muslin gown with the floral print and her wedding dress.

Oprah

Kiri, a blog reader, has suggested that we write to Oprah to urge her to have Ms Ehle as a guest on her show. Who knows, maybe Oprah's a fan?

By the way, I just realised how close it is to the 15th! It's your last chance to see The Other Side.

Since this is turning into a random-bits-of-information post, here's a slightly interesting auction from eBay - a German edition of Possession ("Besessen") by A.S. Byatt, with the movie poster on its cover.

The Real Thing report

Today I saw Tom Stoppard's "The Right Thing", this year's Tony's for best revival of a play, and for its leading couple. Jennifer Ehle is pure energy on the stage, even from the far mezzanine I could feel her character's intense love, and intense contradiction. Tom Stoppard is such a good writer that he wastes the beginning of the play with traditional but great jokes and lines. But it is in the intensity of the dilemma of Max, by the extraordinarily versatile Stephen Dillane, that Stoppard's talent and ideas are revealed. What you do when your love has a lover, but still loves you? How love can support sharing the loved body, even when knowing that is not sharing the love? Whoever hasn't lived through this, in reality or wish, have not lived life, and the play plunge us in the convulsive waters of love, and jealousy, and its harder brother, betrayal. The great survivor is my love for theater, fueled by all this great acting and writing

Claudio Pinhanez writes about his summer in NY.

Oh frabjous day!

The fansite is back up! Note that the URL is different from before: it's now http://www.geocities.com/dwan_y/index.html not http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Alley/4820/ any more. Not sure if this change is permanent though.

The last update is from December 17th - there are some Philadelphia Story photos you've probably seen before.

Meanwhile, the EhleNews Yahoo group needs new blood fresh meat some enthusiastic new members. Go join up! The registration process is a bit long if you're not a Yahoo member already, but the 5 years of discussion are definitely worth it. Lots of photos, articles and fan encounter stories.

Rosemary Harris and John Cullum on ATW radio

The American Theatre Wing's radio program Downstage Center features Rosemary Harris and John Cullum.

Stage veterans Rosemary Harris and John Cullum talk about meeting for the very first time to play husband and wife in Ariel Dorfman's The Other Side, discuss their feelings about seeing their children follow in their acting footsteps, and recall the subdued 1966 Tony Awards, when Cullum was nominated for On a Clear Day...and Harris won for The Lion in Winter.

Here's the direct link to the 12.1mb mp3 file. It's 41 minutes long. Right click (ctrl-click on Mac) and choose "save (link) as".

[edit: I've excerpted the bit where Ms Harris talks about her daughter; it's a 927kb mp3 file. I really recommend you download the full interview though, especially if you're interested in seeing The Other Side. Incidentally, the play is closing on January 15th not 21st as previously announced]

[edit #2: there's also a streaming RealMedia version of the interview at the ATW site]

The River King box office stats

Odeon's The River King - the Halifax-shot thriller about a murder investigation - opened in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax on Oct. 21, and brought in a first-week box office of about $5,000 in three theaters. Over the weekend of Oct. 28, the film continued in Toronto and Halifax, bringing in another $1,150, for a cumulative $7,250, according to Odeon.

By Dustin Dinoff of Playback, November 7th 2005. Hopefully DVD sales will be more successful. If you haven't already, now's the time to pre-order your River King DVD - it's being released on the 24th of this month in the US. The cheapest I've found is $17.24 at Video Universe though you might want to shop around.

Review of Netherfield Ball dance

Here is a review of the Netherfield Ball dance. I can't believe 1,781 words could possibly be written about such a short scene!

The choice of dance is perfect, as many have noted. Wonderful music ("Mr Beveridge's Maggot"), with charm and dignity, and simple but beautiful patterns of movement. I agree entirely with Andrew Davies' comment that the steps of the dance echo a combat, a fencing match, the steps of a matador (eg, that wonderful arm posture as they make their turns - very pasa doble!). All that touching and turning and hand holding and weaving around one another is almost erotic, as well as combative, and is as significant as the dialogue in developing this stage of their relationship.

Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle are very graceful dancers. Logically, of course, the dance should not have ended when it did. They may stop and bow with confidence because the choreographer told them to, but they should have continued until they were at the head of the line again. I love the expression on Darcy's face while he waits gravely to bow at the beginning - one of those editing choices I marvel at.

Brevity is.

A small selection from Four Word Film Reviews:

Sutcliffe falls for Hamburger.

Singers have captive audience.

Jeremy unlaces corset poetically.

Hungary Jews devour love.

Camden's where Hart is.

An urbane legend.

Indy takes European vacation.

Veronica Beaconsfield

Fans at RUSS-L, "an online mailing list devoted to discussion of Laurie R. King's series of books about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes", name Jennifer Ehle as part of their dream cast for the series as the character Veronica Beaconsfield.

1995 vs 1980

There have been mountainloads of comparisons between the 1995 and 2005 versions of Pride and Prejudice, but here's one comparing Our Dear Version with the 1980 adaptation.

As for the dip in the lake -- well, there was clearly a lust factor built in here -- I admit to being rather thrilled by the scene, and by the sight of our hunky hero striding along dripping wet, shirt clinging to his chest. It works on all sorts of levels. First, it expresses Darcy's physicality, which the new version emphasises -- he is shown fencing, riding, shooting, swimming, bathing, walking -- in other words, he is a flesh and blood man full of energy and life, and not just some effete, genteel, posturing Regency hero (which is how I see Rintoul's Darcy). This alone would make him a worthy partner of Jennifer Ehle's feisty Elizabeth. I remember being utterly charmed by her from the very beginning, when we are introduced to her out walking, and she starts to run, revelling in the freedom and the exercise. I knew I was going to like this Lizzie straight away. Second, it makes absolute sense of the meeting between Darcy and Lizzie. It puts Darcy at a disadvantage, helps to increase embarrassment for both of them (and don't tell me Lizzie doesn't notice the way he looks...), and gives him a strong reason for excusing himself and disappearing up to the house.

Jennifer Ehle is superb (she deservedly won a Best Actress BAFTA) - she carries off a great responsibility. There is scarcely a scene in the series, from memory, that doesn't feature her or Darcy. I couldn't imagine a better Elizabeth, and I feel quite 'precious' about the character, since she's the heroine of my all time favourite novel. She is charming, funny, intelligent, pig headed, obstinate, very pretty without being a plastic beauty, she makes mistakes and gets angry and bored and frustrated and embarrassed -- she's a flesh and blood woman. Her solitary walks, which certainly exist in the novel, express her physical side well, and Davies caught her perfectly in the (invented) scene where she plays with the dog at Netherfield and Darcy spies on her from his bathroom. You can easily see why Darcy falls for her, and why she attracts Wickham, Col. Fitzwilliam, maybe even Mr Collins. Jane Austen describes the mixture of 'sweetness and archness in her manner' that 'bewitched' Darcy, and Jennifer Ehle has it in spades!
...
Colin & Jennifer conveyed so much attraction in so subtle a fashion. The kiss at the end, tame as it was, almost seemed unnecessary -- you just know that this is the perfect couple. They did great stuff with body language -- I loved the fact that, when they are walking together at Pemberley, they unconsciously mirror each other, walking along with their arms behind their backs. And when they finally get together, they keep gently bumping against each other as they walk along. [more]

Why yes, even more Camomile Lawn

Since it's unofficial Camomile Lawn week. This is by Greg Quill of the Toronto Star on June 13th, 1993. Spot the errors.

*Addictive: The Camomile Lawn, a TV adaptation by the Australian Broadcasting Commission and British TV's daring independent Channel 4 of Mary Wesley's sprawling novel about an extended family and intricate sexual liaisons before, during, and after World War II, is thrilling, seductive stuff, even if its characters and their values are as unusual to average North American tastes as garlic snails, and rabbit in mustard sauce.

Or maybe not. The complicated sexual pairings - twins who become their cousin's simultaneous lovers after her husband is killed; a gentrified couple (Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington) who, after years of convenient marriage, agree to swap partners with a brilliant German Jewish concert violinist (Oliver Cotton) and his flaxen-haired Bavarian hausfrau (Trudy Weiss), both deemed suspicious aliens by the Establishment; the lingering passion between a thwarted lover and a much younger and very damaged girl who pushed a coast guard watcher over a Cornish cliff because he threatened her with his "pink snake" - would be unbelievable (except, perhaps, in Hollywood) if the pressures of war, and longing suppressed by the British class system, weren't so well preserved as central elements of this extraordinary script.

I couldn't begin to explain the convoluted threads of this addictive, five-part TV saga, which premieres in CBC-TV's "adult zone" tomorrow at 11 p.m., except to suggest that the feel, scent and location of the camomile lawn in the title are key to understanding all the mysteries and psycho-sexual intrigue in the plot.

Claire Bloom, Jennifer Ehle, and Tara Fitzgerald also star.

Brother, Austrian, brunette. Five points for enthusiasm, though.

Camomile Lawn reviews

No prizes for guessing what DVD just arrived in the mail yesterday (yay!). Can't find many full-length reviews, just lots of smallish ones.

From a Richard Johnson appreciation page

5 stars. One of those little gems that creep up on you. A strong ensemble piece driven by the great British theatre director, Peter Hall, this five-hour mini-series follows the lives of about a dozen people from the eve of World War ll through the war. The final hour of the series catches up with them in present day. The cast is a most formidable one, all the younger actors are exceptional, but what makes it most interesting is to see how the older actors have each taken on the various characteristics of their young counterparts from the past. The people the young characters have grown into are real extensions of them. Most of the cast was unfamiliar to me with the exception of Claire Bloom (who is wonderful as always), Rosemary Harris and Tara Fitzgerald (also both wonderful). But the actresses, Rebecca Hall and Jennifer Ehle are definitely two new talents to watch out for! Oh yes, Richard Johnson is extremely enjoyable as the surly but lovable present-day Oliver.

Total DVD

This 1992 series is largely remembered as the TV debut of voluptuous Jennifer Ehle, who along with co-star Tara Fitzgerald gets plenty of chances to disrobe. A clichéd tale of a family torn apart by the Second World War, the story of five cousins from the Cuthbertson family is told in flashback. As war breaks out, upper lips are not the only things that remain stiff, and much ghastly beastliness of the bedroom variety ensues. Totalling 264 minutes on two discs, this is decent value for money and will entertain lovers of steamy costume drama. Picture is a little grainy but bright and colourful, and sound is clear

Buyer reviews from EasyCinema

Most folk will have seen this and enjoyed this on TV when first released. I found it well acted and paced the first time around. My overall appreciation on this second viewing was even more pronounced. Sadly not many TV productions are in this class.

From Memorable UK TV

Period drama serial. The convoluted and surprisingly explicit love lives of a group of cousins just before and during World War II. The series garnered quite a bit of controversy (and publicity) thanks to its frankness with language and sex scenes.

Finally, not exactly a review, but an article about sex on the small screen. The (rather frank) dialogue from one of Ms Ehle's scenes is quoted. Click through to see for yourselves!

Pride and Prejudice screencaps

2187 of them. While we're at it, some LiveJournal icons, useful for avatars and such. These are mostly from austen_icons. There are heaps more in the archives no doubt.

100 wordless icons

Some comedy ones

More comedy

Some with and without borders

17 of them (a couple lovely Lizzy ones)

Not icons, but a mood theme

Some non-Lizzy icons, Ms Ehle as herself

"If I ruled the theater universe..."

4. "All Over," by Edward Albee. Bring Rosemary Harris and Michael Learned back in this superb production of an underrated 1971 play by Albee, about the death of a patriarch, and put it on Broadway. This one was done (but sadly not widely seen) at the Roundabout's Gramercy Theatre in 2002, in a superbly sensitive production under Emily Mann's direction.

From The Journal News' "Broadway's 2006 wish list".

"The real thing"

Liz Penn of The High Sign reviews Possession. She's not keen on the movie but likes Ms Ehle in it, so she's partially forgiven.

I saw Jennifer Ehle eat up the stage a few years ago in a Broadway production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. The real thing is just what she is: a big, juicy, radiant redhead, straight out of a Julia Margaret Cameron photograph from the 1860s, whose face seems full of secrets that far outstrip the complexity of the role she's playing.

The Other Side roundup, again

Rather nice reader review from the NYT

The reason this play seems so timeless is because it lays bare a universal tragedy of ethic and human conflict. The acting is superb, reinforced by a powerful set. Admittedly, this parable /is/ contrived, which is not an insult. The playwrite's craft nicely emphasizes the absurdist realities that mirror life in the 21st century. However, like many articulate and tightly wrought dramas, this play really delivers thought-provoking, touching, and very compelling entertainment.

Backstage

It's a tribute to the extraordinary acting of Cullum and Harris that The Other Side isn't unendurable. ...
The Other Side may elicit general feelings regarding the farcicality, the stupidity, of war. But the pace of Blanka Zizka's direction is shiftless, lugubrious; the play's moody hopelessness is numbing more than provocative. If Cullum and Harris elegantly shade their roles with wit and depth, it's because they find humanity in such an antitheatrical mise en scène. There's value in that, but there would be more if the play had something direct to say.

Times Square

Gene Farber makes a slightly stiff guard, but the acting from the two leads, Rosemary Harris and John Cullum, could not be better. That's the problem, for neither actor is able to rise above the allegorical and stereotypical. Harris and Cullum do what they can with Dorfman's trite dialogue trying to be both seriously profound and profoundly funny, but they can't help lift "The Other Side' from the mundane to the marvelous.

New Yorker

Dorfman’s work often deals with the ambiguous emotional fallout of political strife—but when his open-ended dramas are matched with unspecific acting, as they are here, the dialogue loses its potency for subtext.