Parade's End

"Parade's End" is a five-part miniseries from England starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Rebecca Hall, Rupert Everett, Miranda Richardson, and Janet McTeer. Based on the novel by Ford Maddox Ford, the script was written by Tom Stoppard.

The story is about the British upper class pre- and during World War I, focusing on Christopher Tietjens (Cumberbatch) and his wife Sylvia (Rebecca Hall). Christopher is an honorable man and extremely repressed, it seems - he won't sleep with the woman he loves (Adelaide Clemens) because he's married, but then he's not sleeping with his wife, who has been unfaithful to him and may or may not have given birth to their son.

Tietjens eventually joins the war office rather than staying in safety because he considers it more honest than what he's being asked to do at his job as a government statistician.

I didn't read the book -- according to the reviews, the role of Sylvia is not supposed to be sympathetic, and Rebecca Hall has been criticized for this. I would submit it's not her fault, it's the director's - I'm sure she could have acted the role any way she was requested to do it.

The director cast young Adelaide Clemens as Tietjens' would-be mistress, though their relationship isn't consummated before or during the war. I have to agree with reviews, for a suffragette, she's pretty vapid.

Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the greatest actors today, and again, as reviews have pointed out, he has now achieved matinée idol status. Originally HBO did not want him in this series because they didn't know who he was; by the time the series was ready to be filmed, they said it had to be with Benedict or they wouldn't do it! Christopher isn't supposed to be a matinée idol - he's described as bulky and unattractive. Cumberbatch gained weight for the role to make himself look a little bigger, though by no means bulky, and he wore inserts in his face to kill those incredibly high cheekbones. He also does something with the jaw area - he had jowls and an unusual way of using his mouth, which has been compared to Edward Fox's and Jeremy Irons' jaw movements. It's part of his characterization, so he actually doesn't look like the dashing Sherlock, between that, his weight, and his lighter hair. He's also lowered his voice, which was pretty low to begin with.

All in all, it's a brilliant performance. He really is a true chameleon. Christopher, however, to Americans anyway, is difficult to understand with his uptightness and his honor, just like one lost patience with Ashley Wilkes and his mixed messages to Scarlett.

And since Cumberbatch is now a matinée idol and if you're a woman, what you're waiting for is some sex and boy, there wasn't much of that, though we did get to see his bare chest when his shirt was open. Wow. We who have seen him do love scenes, such as in The Last Enemy, were left pretty much like Sylvia -- frustrated.

There are some beautiful scenes and some very gritty war scenes, plus lots of symbolism to be had. This series has been compared to Downton Abbey but it is in no way a soap opera. It's much more subtle; it moves slowly, as that way of life did, with everything looking good on the surface but bubbling with scandal and problems underneath.

A great effort that succeeds in part, with some wonderful acting.

Parade's End is Tom Stoppard's new adaption of Ford Madox Ford's First World War novel. One knew it was going to be good as soon as one noticed that the novelist's first and last name were the same – a sure sign of a serious and thoughtful writer.

The series stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Christopher Tietjens – a tightly wound, deeply honourable English gentlemen with an annoying penchant for not having sex with beautiful women who want to have sex with him. They pursue him, they flirt with him, they sometimes get down on their knees and beg him, but old Christopher doesn't want to know. He is far too busy being tightly wound and deeply honourable.

Directly by Susannah White, Parade's End is BBC costume drama at its most costumy, with plenty of expensive tweed, pinched in waistlines, and heaving powdered cleavage.

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Cumberbatch must have watched many thousands of hours of Edward Fox movies, as he seems to have perfectly mastered Fox's uniquely contorted lower facial expression – that of pressing one's lips together and using one's cheek muscles to somehow force one's down-turned mouth painfully southwards towards the chin.

Rebecca Hall, (daughter of Sir Peter) plays Tietjens' beautiful but sex-starved socialite wife, who on one occasion strips naked in front of her husband, only to be told that he can't bear to turn away from the wall and look at her. On another occasion the poor woman is so desperate for intercourse that she jumps into a taxi in London, drives hundreds of miles to where he is fighting in France, and practically throws herself on top of him in the trenches. Meanwhile, Christopher's sagging mouth slides further and further down his face as he daydreams about his beautiful suffragette admirer Valentine (Adelaide Clemens), and what it might be like to not have sex with her again when he returns home to Blighty.

Clearly Parade's End is intelligent, beautifully crafted drama, without the TV soap-like qualities of the more mainstream Downton Abbey, and Benedict Cumberbatch is destined to become one of our finest serious actors. That is, of course, if he manages to avoid being cast as Doctor Who.

I had mixed feelings when I started watching the BBC drama. Having read some comments I had some fears. One of them was that I expected the series to be some kind of copy-paste of Downton Abbey. It wasn't. It is more subtle, evolves more slowly and has an almost inaudible air of pain and suffering. I couldn't help but compare it to Maughem's "The Painted Veil" that tells the story of a couple - a flippant wife of a doctor who is intellectually superior to her but too noble and and at the same time too proud to divorce her for betrayal. This story might seem similar however it has a greater depth. It's not only a man's parade trying to stand for what he truly believes in and finding himself abandoned by life and failing as a man. It's a vivid portrayal of virtues that are believed to be outdated but are in fact so modern and thoroughly relevant to today. And that's what salvages these series from being just another costume drama.

What surprised me most about the drama was Benedict Cumberbatch's performance. He has an incredible acting prowess to play roles that are so different from him. There is no Benedict neither in Sherlock nor in Mr Tiejens. He completely vanishes within the characters he plays altering his movements, speaking, laughing, joking etc. It's interesting to note what Benedict said speaking about the role "Christopher has many admirable qualities I'd like to siphon off into my life."

I believe Mr Tiejens is one of Benedict's best roles. He uses his voice like an instrument tuning it sometimes so deep and strong and sometimes subtle and gentle. It's an astonishing performance that definitely transcends TV dramas.

Not since A Dance to the Music of Time has such a stellar cast been allied to such an artful and unusual script.

Ford Madox Ford is not a popular novelist. His work often approaches its subjects on an elliptical curve, his principal characters are seldom in the mainstream of society, forming odd relationships, requiring his audience to assimilate their understanding of them over the course of a whole work rather than categorise from their experience (or jump to conclusions based on genre). This explains why we don't see his work adapted very often. Or even at all.

Susanna White and Tom Stoppard have both grasped the nettle of demonstrating this sideways approach, though I'm not sure quite so many kaleidoscopic shots were necessary to drive the point home. Benedict Cumberbatch joins in, underlining his character's isolation with some rather off-putting facial gestures. Ronald Hines played Tietjens in the now lost 1960's adaptation and casting to type may have worked better than struggling with toning down the matinée idol status Cumberbatch has acquired since hitting Sherlock Holmes out of the park. Maybe if he and Stephen Graham had swapped roles the other characters might have found it easier to deal with Tietjens' self-enforced oddity but that may have impaired Ford's central point, beautifully delivered as the the climax to Episode 4.

But acting idiosyncrasies cannot mask the quality of the fabulous script or the overall adaptation which has a towering performance from Rebecca Hall and glittering additions from Rufus Sewell, Rupert Everett, Miranda Richardson, Roger Allam, Ann-Marie Duff and beautiful, note-perfect newcomer Adele Clemens.

With so much glossy soap about, it is extremely refreshing to have high quality, thought-provoking, challenging drama this good whatever the lead chooses to do with his jaw muscles.

A keeper.

Before "Parade's End," Rebecca Hall and Benedict Cumberbatch were last paired professionally in an unassuming romantic comedy called "Starter for 10," a film anchored by their friend James McAvoy. All three played university students. Although each turned in a good performance, the roles were not ones that required much acting range. In Parade's End, however, the roles of Sylvia and Christopher Tietjens allow both Hall and Cumberbatch to flex their considerable acting muscles. When both are in a scene, the scene is so riveting that it is hard to know which actor to watch.

Over the years, the 36-year-old Cumberbatch has built an impressive portfolio of work. He has been accurately described as a chameleon. He so completely invests himself in a role that it is sometimes hard to recognize the actor behind the character.

As Sylvia Tietjens, wife of wealthy landowner Christopher Tietjens, Hall holds her own against Cumberbatch. Her Sylvia is smart, narcissistic, beautiful, lusty, manipulative, and utterly fascinating. Her rival, suffragette Valentine Wannop, pales in comparison. While the younger Valentine is sweet, loyal, and plucky, she doesn't have Sylvia's fire.

Which woman will Christopher choose? You'll have to watch the series to find out. Along the way, you'll enjoy not only the performances of the three principal actors, but also the performances of a wonderful ensemble of able actors, including Rupert Everett, Anne-Marie Duff (coincidentally, the wife of James McAvoy, who joined Hall and Cumberbatch in "Starter for 10"), and others.