Anyone watch part 2?
I really enjoyed it, though not sure about suddenly aging all the actors for next week. Surely Rupert Penry Jones isn't that much older than James Norton. I'm sure they could have aged the original actors sufficiently!
I recorded it last night and I haven't had a chance to catch up with it yet. How much older are the characters meant to be now? I had to Google it, but James Norton is 29/30 and Rupert P-J will be 45 next month.
I don't think they needed to change the actors its not like they are meant to be pensioners now. Could have easily used some make up on the actors to age them!
The "dark secret" was never going to be mentioned in this series. It was said both their father and step-brother abused the sisters when they were young.
Wasn't it just the two step-brothers (George and Gerald) who abused them??
It was totally confusing and a lot of pretentious posturing. I was bored but kept watching hoping something good was going to happen - well a bit of life at least. I know about the Bloomsbury group but I thought their lives were far more exciting than that portrayed - they must have been bored out their brains with their enclosed little lives and their enclosed little groups.
I think that's more down to the lumpen script. I'm not sure their actual lives were particularly exciting, but the the various members were rather more fascinating and vivacious than we've been led to believe from this. Virginia Woolf, for example, was supposedly sparkling company during the periods when she wasn't in a deep depression...
These were people who had a real passion for the arts, and loved discussing every little detail and every angle. And they had the wit and intelligence to do so without ever being boring or cliched. Obviously their lives wouldn't be everybody's idea of a fun time, but the workmanlike script makes them seem irredeemably dull, and almost perpetually bored - even amongst themselves.
Desperate Romantics may have been silly in places, but at least you were left with the sense that here were people who were truly passionate about what they did. None of that comes across here.
I've always suspected that the Bloomsbury Set led far less interesting lives than we're led to believe by their supposedly Bohemian ways and this dramatisation has confirmed my suspicions totally.
Deathly dull in just about every department. Rather ironic that Virginia Woolf had such trouble sleeping. I had none at all while watching this.
People moaning about this all the time in the press, about the sound and the lighting, really getting on my nerves now. I could hear and see it fine. And others getting confused by the characters. Are we really all so thick these days that we cannot follow a drama and its characters. Sorry state of affairs.
No, I did and Ioved it and thought it was one of the best things I've seen on TV this year. I think if it had been pure fiction I would have thought it was too far fetched to be true!
I'm puzzled as to why they thought it would be a good idea to have different actors for the older versions of the characters. I spent an annoying amount of time trying to work out which actor was meant to be which person. Even more confusingly, Rupert Penry Jones looked barely any older than Ed Norton, but didn't resemble him at all.
The series gave me no sense of the vibrancy and intensity of the Bloomsbury Group, which was undoubtedly part pf why they're remembered. They were portrayed as drifting in a languid, elegant manner through life, in an exquisite shabby-genteel house. It was like a three-hour advert for Laura Ashley.
The only thing that was done well, in my opinion, was Vanessa's recognition of her lust for Duncan. The green-skin scene was genuinely erotic.
I'm puzzled as to why they thought it would be a good idea to have different actors for the older versions of the characters. I spent an annoying amount of time trying to work out which actor was meant to be which person. Even more confusingly, Rupert Penry Jones looked barely any older than Ed Norton, but didn't resemble him at all.
The series gave me no sense of the vibrancy and intensity of the Bloomsbury Group, which was undoubtedly part pf why they're remembered. They were portrayed as drifting in a languid, elegant manner through life, in an exquisite shabby-genteel house. It was like a three-hour advert for Laura Ashley.
The only thing that was done well, in my opinion, was Vanessa's recognition of her lust for Duncan. The green-skin scene was genuinely erotic.
James Norton.
I agree i think they could easily have aged the previos actors.
But i watched it to the end and enjoyed it. But i preferred the first 2 episodes with the original cast.
I was wanting to learn if there was something about this group of people which would help explain why anyone finds them or their doings interesting. I was not enlightened on that score.
I was wanting to learn if there was something about this group of people which would help explain why anyone finds them or their doings interesting. I was not enlightened on that score.
Fair enough. I was only watching for James Norton!!
In the hope it might get better. I'm not someone who routinely gives up after one episode. I hoped I might learn something, or that they developed into more interesting people as they got older. Alas, it was a vain hope.
I don't think it was bad, as such. There were some pretty frocks. The photography was nice. And James Norton is a dish. But, Lordy, it was dull.
Just caught up after being on holiday. Contrary to popular opinion, I actually found myself most sucked in by the final episode, and thought Eve Best as Vanessa was fantastic.
Mostly I could follow who was who, though agree that the shift from James Norton to Rupert Penry-Jones was an awkward one.
I didn't find it dull, but I didn't find it as fun or raunchy as it was described either!
Comments
I recorded it last night and I haven't had a chance to catch up with it yet. How much older are the characters meant to be now? I had to Google it, but James Norton is 29/30 and Rupert P-J will be 45 next month.
Wasn't it just the two step-brothers (George and Gerald) who abused them??
I think that's more down to the lumpen script. I'm not sure their actual lives were particularly exciting, but the the various members were rather more fascinating and vivacious than we've been led to believe from this. Virginia Woolf, for example, was supposedly sparkling company during the periods when she wasn't in a deep depression...
These were people who had a real passion for the arts, and loved discussing every little detail and every angle. And they had the wit and intelligence to do so without ever being boring or cliched. Obviously their lives wouldn't be everybody's idea of a fun time, but the workmanlike script makes them seem irredeemably dull, and almost perpetually bored - even amongst themselves.
Desperate Romantics may have been silly in places, but at least you were left with the sense that here were people who were truly passionate about what they did. None of that comes across here.
Deathly dull in just about every department. Rather ironic that Virginia Woolf had such trouble sleeping. I had none at all while watching this.
Vanessa comes across as deluded and desperate, most of them are self-absorbed, selfish snobs.
Only Leonard seems in any way likeable.
No, I did and Ioved it and thought it was one of the best things I've seen on TV this year. I think if it had been pure fiction I would have thought it was too far fetched to be true!
The series gave me no sense of the vibrancy and intensity of the Bloomsbury Group, which was undoubtedly part pf why they're remembered. They were portrayed as drifting in a languid, elegant manner through life, in an exquisite shabby-genteel house. It was like a three-hour advert for Laura Ashley.
The only thing that was done well, in my opinion, was Vanessa's recognition of her lust for Duncan. The green-skin scene was genuinely erotic.
James Norton.
I agree i think they could easily have aged the previos actors.
But i watched it to the end and enjoyed it. But i preferred the first 2 episodes with the original cast.
Fair enough. I was only watching for James Norton!!
Thanks! See, utterly confused.
In the hope it might get better. I'm not someone who routinely gives up after one episode. I hoped I might learn something, or that they developed into more interesting people as they got older. Alas, it was a vain hope.
I don't think it was bad, as such. There were some pretty frocks. The photography was nice. And James Norton is a dish. But, Lordy, it was dull.
Just caught up after being on holiday. Contrary to popular opinion, I actually found myself most sucked in by the final episode, and thought Eve Best as Vanessa was fantastic.
Mostly I could follow who was who, though agree that the shift from James Norton to Rupert Penry-Jones was an awkward one.
I didn't find it dull, but I didn't find it as fun or raunchy as it was described either!
Overall, I did mostly enjoy it, though.