Mistral's Daughter

I watched only about 1/4 of the movie and could see it was just absolutely terrible. I am on a Timothy Dalton phase and have been watching as much of him as possible. I hesitated with this movie because I can't stand Stacy Keach, never could.

And I have to say, that the only somewhat good parts of this film IS Timothy Dalton. Lovable character although women who set themselves up for heartbreak with married men is totally stupid.

But after Dalton left the movie, I just couldn't bear to watch the mini-series soap opera hoping for some kind of happy ending. It was yawn city, boring and how many times the "irresistible" Stacy Keach can get women in bed despite treating them like crap. I read the rest of the plot and found it drab, redundant and not worth my valuable time.

The ONLY reason I am giving it 3 stars is for Timothy Dalton who is fantastic in almost anything he does.

This a typical glossy American mini-series of the mid-eighties (and now) concerning a grumpy Provencal artist deftly played by Stacey Keach and his life and loves. It is both melodramatic and crass, but it is watchable for one reason alone; the sight of Stefanie Powers prancing around the Rive Gauche in 1900's Paris playing an 18 year artist's model when she is well over 40 and far too old for the part is absolutely irresistible. This is genuine parody fodder for the likes of French & Saunders and has the watcher giggling with disbelief at such comic miscasting. Interlaced with its syrupy theme tune 'Only Love' sung by the evergreen (and awful) Nana Mouskouri and faux French scenery, this is guaranteed to cheer up all fans of awful but hilarious television.

This is another of those big, lush '80s miniseries, better known as trash wallows. What fun they were - expensive, scenic, opulent. Mistral's Daughter is based on a novel by Judith Kranz, concerning three generations of women in the same family involved with a great artist, portrayed by Stacy Keach. Stefanie Powers plays Maggy, the matriarch of the family, who, as a young woman, meets Mistral and becomes involved with him. Later on, her daughter meets him, falls in love with him and bears him a child.

Mistral is a real jerk, a Nazi collaborator who turns escaping Jews away at his gates and even turns in a few to get paint supplies. The kind of total narcissist codependents fall in love with. When his illegitimate daughter finds out about this years later, Mistral has to come to grips with his own selfish, self-absorbed life.

For a good actor, Stacy Keach isn't very good in this - everyone suffers from rotten accents. Stefanie Powers is always good but playing a 17-year-old when she was over 40 may not have been the best move, although she certainly is very beautiful.

All in all, this is a very entertaining miniseries. Just don't take it too seriously and enjoy it for what it is - an '80s artifact.

As a kid I adored Stephanie Powers in Hart To Hart and would watch her in anything..even my childhood favourite; The Bionic Woman (sady, she was in the bigfoot episodes, the equivalent of 'jumping the shark' but I still liked her!) and recently I had a chance to see Mistral's Daughter again. It actually held up well to my now fairly sophisticated movie taste. I don't like to find flaws anyway, so I will leave that to those who enjoy that sort of thing. The cast was a wonderful assortment of talent. Stephanie was so beautiful and played the age range very well. I also found the actress who played Fauve, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu to be uniquely beautiful as well. Timothy Dalton was appealingly young and handsome though rather slight as compared to my memory of him. Stacy Keach was suitably sexy and intense, a good actor, though hard to feel much attraction to such a selfish character and the hare-lip turned me off. I loved some of the paintings used in the film though! A lot of fun especially for any seasoned TV watcher as you will see a lot of familiar and young faces, Joanna Lumley is a treat, as always. As usual some of the best acting was done by the secondary roles, in this case feature film calibre roles played by; Pierre Malet as Avigdor, who was very good, sometimes heart-wrenchingly so, Stéphane Audran as the selfless Paula and the incredible Lee Remick as the cool master manipulator with a self-destructive passion for Mistral. Sure one can find faults, but why bother? Enjoy yourself!

The only reason to watch Mistral's Daughter is Timothy Dalton who appears in Episodes 2 and 3. He's the reason I'm giving 10 stars. If I could just buy episodes 2 and 3, I would. This man is like a woman's dream come true - he comes across as so sincere, so sexy, so kind, so accepting and so devoid of ego - what woman interested in men, would NOT want to be loved by a man like this? Name another actor with that level of drop dead gorgeous looks, that sumptuous voice, that dazzling charm, acting talent for days and so generous to his fellow actors! I confess envy that Stephanie Powers got to do these scenes with him and honestly, don't know how she didn't keep from jumping his bones for real. When I die, I want to see Timothy Dalton in heaven - please God!!!!