Vanity Fair

Rating:
Summary: An emotionally distant BBC version of Thackeray's novel
Review: "Vanity Fair," first published serially in 1847-48, is William Makepeace Thackeray's tale of the fortunes of two women. On the one hand we have the ambitious and amoral Becky Sharp, the orphaned daughter of a struggling painter and a French opera singer, and on the other the passive Amelia Sedley, the wellborn but sheltered daughter of rich merchant. The two young women meet at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for young ladies, where Becky is a tutor of French and Amelia a student, and become friends. We then follow their intertwined lives as Jane tries to climb the social ladder and Amelia follows the dictates of her heart.

"Vanity Fair" is celebrated for Thackeray's disparaging and negative portrait of the upper classes of early 19th-century England. The characters are rather vile, the relationships are hopelessly doomed, and readers who were not the targets of Thackeray's pen have enjoyed it ever since. Like others I watched this BBC mini-series version of "Vanity Fair" after watching the recent theatrical film from director Mira Nair with Reese Witherspoon as Becky Sharp. Ironically, Natasha Little, who plays Becky in this mini-series, plays Lady Jane Sheepshanks in the movie version. I was bothered by the decision to make Becky nicer, because stripped of her amorality the point of the character is lost. By the end of the first scene on the BBC version I knew that Little's Becky was indeed an amoral vixen. The problem is that she does not seem to be smart enough about it to really win our sympathies, and that results in us being detached from the story emotionally.

Becky Sharp has long been considered the prototype for Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara, which is an apt perspective in terms of the character's literary heritage. But whereas we root for Scarlett to save Tara, win Rhett, and overcome all her other obstacles, Becky goes her merry way without our really caring about her one way of the other. True, the subtitle for "Vanity Fair" is "A Novel Without a Hero," but there is a sense of irony since the focus is primarily on the two young women, and all of the men are ultimately orbiting around them one way or the other. Still, even in such a social satire I want to at least enjoy the anti-heroine's progression, even if I find her unsympathetic (Shakespeare's "Richard III" is unsympathetic, and I find him fascinating).

This mini-series was written by Andrew Davies and directed by Marc Munden, and the fault in Becky Sharp's characterization belongs more to them than it does Little's performance (Frances Grey plays Amelia). There is a scene early on where Becky impulsively decides to steal some things as she is sent packing, and I found myself thinking not so much that she was bold but that she was being stupid. What you have to remember is that Becky Sharp is disingenuous to one and all. The only point in the entire drama where I felt she was stripped to honest emotion and thoughts about anyone other than herself is when on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo her husband, Rawdon Crawley (Nathaniel Parker), otherwise known as her entrance into high society, is telling her what she needs to know if he does not come back. At that moment she has the good graces to pay attention, treat the matter seriously, and not let what might be her husband's last memory of her be anything other than honest concern for his safety.

The script certainly is faithful to Thackeray's novel, but time and time again I found the acting to be a bit too formal, even given the conventions of the time and place (David Bradley as the Sir Pitt being the exception that proves the rule). Maybe I made a mistake watching the mini-series so soon after the theatrical film, because I tended to favor the performances in the latter, which is usually not the case when I am talking about a BBC version of a literary adaptation versus a theatrical release. Davies makes a major decision, understandable but still a major mistake from my perspective, in deciding to forgo a narrator, since that is the only way to get a lot of Thackeray's satire and wit into the proceedings. Since this is a BBC production so we are talking the same level of production standards we always expect to see from such period pieces. However, if you are looking forward to any extras on this DVD, forget about it.

Rating:
Summary: Becky, Andrew and William
Review: Andrew Davies is a very clever man with, I suspect, quite a tender heart. I don't know how he draws out these old novels for us the way he does, but he's done it again here. I have to admit, the first time I saw this production, I liked it, but was left a little cold. The second time I saw it, I knew it was just me, and that it takes a viewer accustomed to mediocrity some time to readjust to this kind of brilliance. The costumes and sets, in the hot Oriental colours of the real Regency instead of the too often misrendered pastels of the earlier Georgians, are well done and the acting and casting are great. Davies, cleverly, put some of the wry observations of the narrative passages into the mouths of the characters. "I must say, Dr. Hume, if a man's character is to be abused, there's nobody like a relation to do the business." David Bradley is old Sir Pitt is himself, in fact, the whole Queen's Crawley contingent will make you both laugh and squirm, just like they're supposed to. Janine Duvitski as marvelous as the ghastly, grasping Mrs. Bute Crawley. Natasha Little is luminously beautiful as Becky Sharp, her careless curls at unsettling contrast with her little smirk. Amelia Sedley is so wet you could ring her out (Thackeray predicted my criticism of her character, by the way) but Frances Grey plays her so well you admire her, as you do all of them, for just being the flawed creatures they are.

You will find the inhabitants of this fair very much alive and not at all like puppets, as Thackeray disingenuously tells you they are all through his book. The visuals well support the spirit of the production. There is one scene of Dobbin and Osbourne conversing outside their barracks, and the camera then raises into an extreme high shot that makes them look exactly like toy soldiers or pictures on a chocolate box. It's the shot often used to film a football game or the square formations of the old battlefields, so we are reminded that what became almost quaint in the ensuing two hundred years was once very real. The battlefield scenes are up close and personal, noisy and ugly, from the grim patience of the Dobbins and Osbournes, the foot soldiers who carried the terrible day of the Battle of Waterloo, to the hard breathing and slamming together of metal and flesh as the cavalry engages.

The score has disturbed some people, but it's as brilliant as the adaptation and delivers the feel of the period directly. It's hard to say why it works, but there's no question that it does, and anachronism only serves as a friend, here. Like Becky's wonderful, new remarks, which I'm sure she really made, "Baisez mon cul." and "I'm sorry I'm laughing, your ladyship, but I just can't help it." When I actually saw the band at Vauxhall Gardens, they provided me my bearings, like finding a "You Are Here" on a map. The songs are placed perfectly. When Becky's entertaining at home, her occasional flat notes don't seem to be noticed by the men in her thrall, and Becky similiarly winning over the gyneocracy with her "Dido's Lament" (sans the flat notes) at the Steyne House soiree is not to be missed.

The story itself, whatever it's about, whether it's just a puppet show or one of the most profound, tender observations of human life ever put to paper, is delivered faithfully, without sentiment, but with more of the buried tenderness of the author than he would ever own up to. The ending, where these inhabitants of Vanity Fair learn to recover from glamorous war and get on with the business of becoming unexciting Victorians, and where a mysterious bad girl is saved by the intervention of a cheeky, innocent little boy is delivered in this production in all its beauty. But never mind that. As it was not about pastel interiors, the real Regency was not about sentimentality. Somebody said that all authors are in love with their childhood. Even though this was the work of a Victorian, born in 1811, and even if he did not properly approve of her, I think Thackeray was in love with his wicked, plucky little heroine, as he was in love with the period in which she flourished. Perhaps he is the curious little boy walking up the casino steps into the past and into that strange world of what appear to be grown-up people with their masks and secrets. When he gets there, he finds this particular grownup needs him. In fact, it's almost as if she's waiting for him to let him know she is not so strong on her own, and to remember her and to please be sure to write about her. We certainly need Andrew Davies and his adaptations. See what you think of this one. You won't be disappointed, and if you are, watch it again.

Rating:
Summary: Becky, Andrew and William
Review: Andrew Davies is a very clever man with, I suspect, quite a tender heart. I don't know how he draws out these old novels for us the way he does, but he's done it again here. I have to admit, the first time I saw this production, I liked it, but was left a little cold. The second time I saw it, I knew it was just me, and that it takes a viewer accustomed to mediocrity some time to readjust to this kind of brilliance. The costumes and sets, in the hot Oriental colours of the real Regency instead of the too often misrendered pastels of the earlier Georgians, are well done and the acting and casting are great. Davies, cleverly, put some of the wry observations of the narrative passages into the mouths of the characters. "I must say, Dr. Hume, if a man's character is to be abused, there's nobody like a relation to do the business." David Bradley is old Sir Pitt is himself, in fact, the whole Queen's Crawley contingent will make you both laugh and squirm, just like they're supposed to. Janine Duvitski as marvelous as the ghastly, grasping Mrs. Bute Crawley. Natasha Little is luminously beautiful as Becky Sharp, her careless curls at unsettling contrast with her little smirk. Amelia Sedley is so wet you could ring her out (Thackeray predicted my criticism of her character, by the way) but Frances Grey plays her so well you admire her, as you do all of them, for just being the flawed creatures they are.

You will find the inhabitants of this fair very much alive and not at all like puppets, as Thackeray disingenuously tells you they are all through his book. The visuals well support the spirit of the production. There is one scene of Dobbin and Osbourne conversing outside their barracks, and the camera then raises into an extreme high shot that makes them look exactly like toy soldiers or pictures on a chocolate box. It's the shot often used to film a football game or the square formations of the old battlefields, so we are reminded that what became almost quaint in the ensuing two hundred years was once very real. The battlefield scenes are up close and personal, noisy and ugly, from the grim patience of the Dobbins and Osbournes, the foot soldiers who carried the terrible day of the Battle of Waterloo, to the hard breathing and slamming together of metal and flesh as the cavalry engages.

The score has disturbed some people, but it's as brilliant as the adaptation and delivers the feel of the period directly. It's hard to say why it works, but there's no question that it does, and anachronism only serves as a friend, here. Like Becky's wonderful, new remarks, which I'm sure she really made, "Baisez mon cul." and "I'm sorry I'm laughing, your ladyship, but I just can't help it." When I actually saw the band at Vauxhall Gardens, they provided me my bearings, like finding a "You Are Here" on a map. The songs are placed perfectly. When Becky's entertaining at home, her occasional flat notes don't seem to be noticed by the men in her thrall, and Becky similiarly winning over the gyneocracy with her "Dido's Lament" (sans the flat notes) at the Steyne House soiree is not to be missed.

The story itself, whatever it's about, whether it's just a puppet show or one of the most profound, tender observations of human life ever put to paper, is delivered faithfully, without sentiment, but with more of the buried tenderness of the author than he would ever own up to. The ending, where these inhabitants of Vanity Fair learn to recover from glamorous war and get on with the business of becoming unexciting Victorians, and where a mysterious bad girl is saved by the intervention of a cheeky, innocent little boy is delivered in this production in all its beauty. But never mind that. As it was not about pastel interiors, the real Regency was not about sentimentality. Somebody said that all authors are in love with their childhood. Even though this was the work of a Victorian, born in 1811, and even if he did not properly approve of her, I think Thackeray was in love with his wicked, plucky little heroine, as he was in love with the period in which she flourished. Perhaps he is the curious little boy walking up the casino steps into the past and into that strange world of what appear to be grown-up people with their masks and secrets. When he gets there, he finds this particular grownup needs him. In fact, it's almost as if she's waiting for him to let him know she is not so strong on her own, and to remember her and to please be sure to write about her. We certainly need Andrew Davies and his adaptations. See what you think of this one. You won't be disappointed, and if you are, watch it again.

Rating:
Summary: The Aussie Video Edition is BETTER!
Review: Gawd,Do you mean to tell me that VANITY FAIR has been split into 6 videos? In Australia,the series has been put onto 2 videos with 3 episodes on each tape. Natasha Little is superb in this lavish production and Eleanor Bron is good in her brief appearance in Part 4.

Rating:
Summary: Technically the worst dvd I have ever watched
Review: I can not give an accurate criticism of this adaptation of Vanity Fair because I have only watched the first 25 minutes of the movie. I stopped watching and began writing this review because I wanted to warn people that the picture quality contained on this dvd is worse than bad. My 36 inch television showed so many video artifacts that it became distracting. I can accept the fact that it is only available in pan & scan, what I can not accept is picture quality so bad and un-even that it looks as if it were dubbed from an old vhs tape. The people at A&E really need to take a close look at how they master their dvd releases. I have also purchased Pride and Prejudice from them and I can tell you that, while it is one of my favorite productions, the dvd quality is sub-par (but nowhere near as bad as Vanity Fair). If you buy this release expecting dvd quality sound and picture, you will be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Mildly entertaining
Review: I had just finished reading the book and was anxious to see what A&E had done with the story, since they had produced such a wonderful adaptation of "Pride and Predjudice". I was disappointed with "Vanity Fair" since many of the characters and events were skimmed over or left out altogether. In fact, if you've not read the book, you may have a difficult time following the film. However, this production was lavish and colorful, if nothing else, and the acting was good. I was amused for a few evenings, at any rate, but if I had it to do over I'd save my money.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable...
Review: I have never read the novel of "Vanity Fair," however, I LOVED the DVD. Natasha Little stars as Becky Sharp a scheming (but oh so wickedly beautiful), governess. Becky tries, and eventually succeeds in netting herself a fortune as well as several, rich lovers. Becky's cold ruthless cunning alienates herself from those she loves, and lands herself into trouble time and time again, but Becky succeeds in extricating herself from each misadventure with delicious results.

This movie is for those who love the regency period, and would delight in watching a heroine who thumbs her nose at convention, and is the antithesis of 'sweet, naive and innocent.'

Rating:
Summary: Depressing to no end
Review: I have never read this book, but bought it based on other movies I enjoyed that BBC has done. If you like Charles Dickens, you might enjoy this, but if you are looking for anything lighthearted or romantic you will be disappointed. Nothing like Pride and Prejudice or Wives and Daughters which I enjoyed very much. Although I am sure that this is a literary masterpiece, it is depressing (as many literary masterpieces are). This is not an all around bad movie, just a bad match for me.

Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable Production of a Literary Classic
Review: I have read "Vanity Fair" twice and intend to re-read this coming year. I remember seeing a BBC version with Susan Hampshire in the role of Becky Sharp back in the 1970s, as well as the 1930s Hollywood version with Mariam Hopkins on late-night television when I was a teenager. Now I understand that there is to be another Hollywood version, with Reese Witherspoon, of all the odd choices, to play Becky. Natasha Little is, in my opinion, an outstanding Becky Sharp, surpassing both Hampshire and Hopkins in the role. I cannot feature the vastly overrated Ms Witherspoon being able to give as subtle and natural a performance as Ms Little does in this A&E production. Ms Little is at once appealing and a monster, a woman "on the make"; in one very funny, and creepy, bit she is forced to turn down a marriage proposal from the coarse Sir Pitt Crawley, because she is already married to his dashing son. When Pitt Crawley leaves the room, it becomes clear that Becky would have married the vulgar old man for the security he offered had she been free.

The rest of the cast was very good, particularly the actors portraying Amelia, George, Rawdon, and Dobbin. There has been some criticism of the appearance of the actors, that they were too plain or even downright unattractive for the roles. One of the differences between British and American productions (particularly those made for televsion) is that in British productions the performers are more often selected for their talent than their appearance. Sometimes this backfires, as in the case of the remake of "The Forsyte Saga," when many viewers complained about Geena McKee being too plain for the role of Irene Forsyte, who was supposed to be a great beauty. In the case of "Vanity Fair" I feel that the actors were just right for their roles in every way, including appearance. Becky's attraction was her spirit as much as her face, and Amelia's sweetness was the inspiration for the love and admiration she received from men.

My one criticism of the film was the loud background music. It was supposed to suggest a carnival or fair, but it was so blasted loud that at times it drowned out the performers. Although this was not as constant as one reviewer indicated, it did happen often enough to be annoying. If you like Thackeray, I think you will be pleased with this version of his masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: The best television has to offer
Review: I read William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair," the only novel of his I have read, back in February of this year. I was hesitant to do so at first because I heard many negative comments about the book from several people whose opinions I respect. I am happy to report that the book is a splendid novel, full of vibrant characters that soon come to feel like living, breathing creatures under Thackeray's masterful pen. The book was so spectacular that when I learned an American film version starring Reese Witherspoon is set to arrive sometime next year I looked forward to seeing it. Fortunately, an individual with fantastic knowledge about foreign films quickly alerted me to the existence of this BBC adaptation of Thackeray's masterpiece. Released over here in the U.S. by A&E, "Vanity Fair" runs for nearly six magical hours. The first time I watched this production, back in the summer, it took me only one day to view because I simply couldn't turn it off. I recently watched "Vanity Fair" again and realized I really ought to put this on my Christmas list because it is that good. I would start watching American television again if I could see productions of this caliber on a regular basis.

"Vanity Fair," set in the years surrounding Napoleon's resurgence in Europe, traces the rise and fall of two young British women, Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley. The two young ladies meet in a sort of finishing school and when the time to reenter society arrives, Amelia takes Rebecca home with her to meet the family. The Sedley clan is comfortably upper middle class, with the father earning a nice living speculating on government bonds. Also home in time to greet the two is Amelia's buffoonish brother Jos, recently returned from his minor government post in India. Becky, an orphan who is essentially a gold digger of epic proportions, attempts to attach herself to the portly and arrogant Jos with hilarious results. Amelia looks forward to reacquainting herself with George Osborne, the son of one of her father's business partners and a first class cad. Nearby is William Dobbin, George's best friend and a decent man who has a huge crush on the clueless Amelia. Jos soon ruins any chance he has with Becky when he gets drunk on a group outing. From this point forward, a vast array of hilarious yet contemptible characters prance across Thackeray's stage.

As Dobbin and Osborn head off to continental Europe to fight against Napoleon, Becky obtains a job as a governess for a deteriorating noble family called the Crawleys. Sharp's job soon finds her embroiled in the tumultuous politics of this clan as all of the family members vie with each other in an attempt to curry favor from the rich but ailing Miss Crawley. It isn't too long before Becky receives a marriage proposal from the patriarch of the family at about the same time she runs off with the man's son. As Sharp navigates through the convoluted realms of the rich and powerful in an effort to secure for herself a better social position, Amelia encounters her own problems. The family loses its money with Napoleon's defeat and must find a way to survive. The quick marriage between Amelia and George ends just as rapidly when Osborne dies on the battlefield, leaving behind a pregnant Amelia and an infuriated elder Osborne who wants nothing to do with his son's widow. Caught in the middle is Dobbin, who desperately wishes to make Amelia his own but cannot bring himself to compete with the memory of dearly departed George. The fun of reading and watching "Vanity Fair" is in seeing how all of these disparate threads come together in the end.

The BBC production of Thackeray's work does a wonderful job of adapting his novel to television. Only a few scenes in the book fail to make an appearance here, something I consider as a sign of a successful production. Where "Vanity Fair" the television movie succeeds most is in the cast chosen to portray the diverse characters. I happened to read a version of the book that included the original drawings that accompanied Thackeray's story, and I must say that it is obvious the producers of this movie studied these sketches in detail. One need only look at the resemblance actor Gerard Murphy's Lord Steyne has to the pictures in the novel to recognize how closely the producers followed Thackeray's vision. The whole cast does a marvelous job of mirroring the characters in "Vanity Fair," but Natasha Little as Rebecca Sharp deserves special mention. Her performance is tremendous, and the transformation she undergoes from a slightly pretty schoolgirl to a stunning beauty with social rank is amazing. Moreover, Little captures perfectly Becky's barely contained scorn for those around her. With a roll of the eyes, a slight shrug of the shoulders, and a mischievous grin she devastatingly disparages all of the nonsense going on around her. You simply cannot help but like her. As bad as Becky Sharp is as a person, Thackeray throws you a curve ball at the end that upends everything we think we know about her.

I liked the DVD presentation, although there aren't any extras to speak of on the discs. One thing that did surprise me about this production was the booming background music that fires up from time to time. It's a type of spicy music replete with blatting horns, and the first time it came on it nearly blew my speaker system out. I ended up enjoying the music, though, as it seemed to add an element of whimsy to many scenes that are, frankly, whimsical. I simply don't have anything bad to say about this movie. It is a must see.