[7.5/10] This is a perfectly good adaptation so far. The casting is good; the tone is right, and while they’re condensing or repositioning a few things from the original novel, you can see the economy and deliberateness behind those choices. The cinematography’s a little bland or odd, with flat framings or cheesy, lingering close-ups in several places. But for the most part, it’s a good production, with the characters and the setting feeling largely like their literary counterparts.
But it’s also a reminder that the best part of Middlemarch was not necessarily the story or the dialogue (though both were quite good), but rather the prose and the way that Eliot conveyed the internal thought processes that drove these characters. That is, inevitably, missing from any filmed adaptation (short of omnipresent and explicatory voiceover), and it leaves this mini-series operating without the best arrows in Eliot’s quiver.
This production can’t seem, in its early going at least, to compensate for the lack of brilliant prose with a brilliant visual style. And the performers are good enough at communicating their characters’ internal thoughts with body language and expressions, but not in a way that matches Eliot’s deep look into the human mind in times of want and frustration and even crisis.
It’s folly to constantly compare an adaptation to its source material. This Middlemarch should be able to stand on its own and be judged according. On that metric, it’s fine -- good even. Dorothea in particular feels right, which is important. Certain characters (Rosamund and Farebrother) have been goosed a little in ways I appreciate. And the vibe of the whole thing feels right. But I can’t help but see what’s missing from the original novel and, well, miss it.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2020-03-20T16:07:02Z
[7.5/10] This is a perfectly good adaptation so far. The casting is good; the tone is right, and while they’re condensing or repositioning a few things from the original novel, you can see the economy and deliberateness behind those choices. The cinematography’s a little bland or odd, with flat framings or cheesy, lingering close-ups in several places. But for the most part, it’s a good production, with the characters and the setting feeling largely like their literary counterparts.
But it’s also a reminder that the best part of Middlemarch was not necessarily the story or the dialogue (though both were quite good), but rather the prose and the way that Eliot conveyed the internal thought processes that drove these characters. That is, inevitably, missing from any filmed adaptation (short of omnipresent and explicatory voiceover), and it leaves this mini-series operating without the best arrows in Eliot’s quiver.
This production can’t seem, in its early going at least, to compensate for the lack of brilliant prose with a brilliant visual style. And the performers are good enough at communicating their characters’ internal thoughts with body language and expressions, but not in a way that matches Eliot’s deep look into the human mind in times of want and frustration and even crisis.
It’s folly to constantly compare an adaptation to its source material. This Middlemarch should be able to stand on its own and be judged according. On that metric, it’s fine -- good even. Dorothea in particular feels right, which is important. Certain characters (Rosamund and Farebrother) have been goosed a little in ways I appreciate. And the vibe of the whole thing feels right. But I can’t help but see what’s missing from the original novel and, well, miss it.