Love in a Cold Climate

My Review- of 2 versions Love in a Cold Climate 1980 on YouTube & Love in a Cold Climate 2001 on Britbox

My Rating 1980 version 10/10 My Rating 2001 version 7/10

It's the first time I've reviewed 2 versions of the same adaptation together however because I watched them simultaneously out of interest I'll review both together.

The 2001 remake is a short 3 episodes while the superior 1980 adaptation consists of 8 episodes.

I enjoyed both versions but was a little disappointed with the 2001 remake and after watching both versions the remake to me is like a redacted sanitised version with many characters and story lines missing.

Both are television adaptations of 2 famous novels written by Nancy Mitford titled The Pursuit of Love and Live in a Cold Climate.

Both have very impressive casts the 2001 remake includes stars Alan Bates as Uncle Matthew and Celia Imrie as Aunt Sadie with beautiful Rosamund Pike as Fanny and Sheila Gish as Lady Montdore.

The superior 1980 version includes Judy Dench as Sadie , Michael Aldridge as Uncle Matt and Isabelle Amyes as Fanny plus veteran actress Vivian Pickles playing the acid tongued Lady Montdore who is transformed into a glamour fag hag when her effeminate nephew Cedrick Hampton arrives to inherit his estate from Canada.

The masquerade ball scene left out of the later version is a joy to behold .

The story set between 1924 and 1940 draws on the authors experience of being raised in an aristocratic climate just before World War 2 when three cousins Fanny , Linda and Polly are led down very different paths due to the consequences of their life choices .

My main criticism of the most recent version apart from editing out characters like Davey Warbeck played by Michael Williams the real life husband of Judy Dench in the 1980 version was the miscasting in the 2001 adaptation.

Rosamund Pike who plays cousin Fanny the daughter of "The Bolter" and narrator of the story is far to beautiful to play Fanny . Her character is supposed to be a shy wallflower not plain but modest in appearance compared to her glamorous cousin Linda played by Elisabeth Dermot Walsh.

The casting of Lucy Gutteridge as the glamorous flirtatious Linda and Isabelle Amyes as cousin Fanny is much more believable in the 1980 version of Love in a Cold Climate.

It's fascinating to me to appreciate 2 very different screen writer's and directors adaptations of the same story for my money Simon Raven screen writer and Donald McWhinnie's 1980 version is the superior adaptation.

Especially the conclusion of the series which in the 2001 version was especially abrupt and very different in moral tone.

Both adaptations are entertaining however the characters are much expanded and I would suspect more faithfully portrayed in the 1980 version which if you only want to watch one adaptation I recommend.

This is generally brilliant entertainment even if the political bits are clichéd and pointless esp the Spanish War scenes. But Rosamund Pike (as Fanny) is utterly spellbinding . You'll rarely encounter such photogenic beauty on film. The camera adores her and so do I. Some may find this comment lacking in gravitas or even frivolous. But forgive me - I'm in love !!

Of course "Love in a Cold Climate" has more going for it. It's a superb insight into the foibles and eccentricities of that most fortunate of social groupings - the English aristocracy of the inter-war period where fascism masqueraded as inherited privilege.

And the whole period is lavishly recreated and technically superb. Alan Bates is great fun as the sewer hating head of house who makes ingenious use of a bureau drawer to soothe his volatile temper.

But all else matters not a jot. What stands this costume piece apart is the astonishing radiance of the exquisite Rosamund Pike. I wholeheartedly recommend this study of happy English whimsy.

This is just about as good as it gets in costume drama. Even the BBC, which is so good at this sort of thing, got it absolutely right, even though this version ran at a much shorter length than the equally excellent 1980 version. The cast is good enough to eat: no-one strikes a wrong note, and some of the acting is downright fabulous (watch Lady Mondore's emotions shift and change). The period detail is, as one has come to expect, far superior to most other attempts at this period. As for the luscious sets, especially those in Paris — what can one say? Watch for the moment when Lady M., having breakfast in bed, says to Fanny that she married for 'all this' and the camera snaps back to show her, not just in a bedroom, but in one of the most sumptuous rooms you could ever hope to see. Deborah Moggach's adaptation strikes the right note all the way through, even for Nancy Mitford fans. But when will a version of the 1980 serialization be made available???

I loved this show! So much! I was just so disappointed when it ended after only 3 episodes! Broke my heart! Such a good mini-series!

Aside from them not including the characters of Emily (the aunt that actually raised Fanny) and Davey (who plays an even more important part), I think the casting is excellent. Sure Rosamund Pike looks nothing like what Mitford described Fanny as but she does embody the nature of Fanny. I can't think of who better to play Matthew and Sadie but Alan Bates and Celia Imrie. Davey played a very important part in the novels, and in this version they merely lump his part into Lord Merlin; and he was also the one of funniest part of the novels with his hypochondria. They also dismissed the eldest Radlett daughter, Louisa, as really she marries straight off but is the one who had the disastrous coming out ball. I thought it was a fun production nonetheless.