Middlemarch

To be honest, I don't think it's possible to translate the richness, depth and refinement of the book Middlemarch to the screen. A narrator gives the most beautiful comments, which is why this book is such high-class literature. The narrator was 'George Eliot', of course, and she was so wise, funny and compassionate that the story is reduced to half without her comments.

It's remarkable how George Eliot has set up Middlemarch. Usually, the narrator is on the outside of the story, and the events that take place with the characters make the story. But not in this case. The narrator is on the inside. He knows about life, psychology, philosophy, religion and spirituality, and he connects all this knowledge to the small lifes of the characters.

So, without the narrator, what's left is precisely this TV adaptation. It's the outside of the story. It shows the most beautiful clothes, gardens, coaches, china, townhouses, and music. The actors tell the story by saying the words their characters do and mimicking the feelings that go along with them. It's not bad at all. But it misses the heart, the inside.

How can we get to the inside of all the marriages without the narrator? How can we get to the personalities of all the characters without the narrator? It's simply not possible in this case. Maybe, with some class A actors we had a better chance, but that's not the case, unfortunately. So, like the characters without the narrator, we stumble through this adaption, which is remarkably fitting in a way.

If you like to see the outside of this story, watch this series. But if you want to see the whole package, please read the book.

Andrew Davies has had a very good career adapting classic novs for TV, on the back of the BBC's classic 1995 Pride and Prejudice. But Austen's book was already written almost like a film script - all he had to do was copy out the words. He tried the same trick slightly earlier in this version of perhaps the greatest English novel, but it doesn't work nearly so well.

The book depends so much on the author telling us about the characters' inner lives - something which can't just be transferred wholesale to a narrator. It seems simple but is actually almost as difficult to adapt as things like Ulysses or The Steppenwolf, and this version no more than scratches the surface. I suspect it must seem dull to those who don't know the book, certainly it didn't make anything like the splash of P&P. It must be a bit embarrassing to put on such a lavish production and get only one BAFTA nomination, for the music.

The cast is good and two in particular are perfect: Patrick Malahide as Casaubon and Rufus Sewell in his breakthrough role as Ladislaw - he has never suited any other part quite so well. Juliet Aubrey, sadly, comes nowhere near doing justice to Dorothea, one of the most attractive heroines in literature; she has the earnestness but not the luminousness.

It was originally a BBC production, but I gather from these reviews that Masterpiece Theater added a voiceover for the benefit of you dumb Yanks, eh? :)

I finished reading Middlemarch (which I loved) and immediately began watching this miniseries, which had been recommended to me. I'm very particular about screen adaptations of my beloved books and I'm pleased to say that this one delivered on every level. Not an easy thing to do for a story that's over 800 pages, but the characters are well-rendered and the adaptation hits all the right notes. (Side note: why is there a non-existent seventh episode listed with a completely fabricated description of events that someone apparently thinks took place after both the book and the telecast ended? Very odd.)

Just loved this series. As a lover of British period drama this is one of my favourites. Some fabulous acting to boot. Can't believe someone said the actors were too old, Rufus Sewell being 40 when this was made. Not true, he was 27. Quite an exaggeration considering it was made 28 years ago. I would much rather some great acting by established actors than more age appropriate cause it fits the narrative more. Definitely not old by any means. So many wonderful characters in this, that it's hard to pick a favourite but I do really like Dorothea who the series is based on. Quite a fan of George Eliots novels. Can't fault this production.

TeeVee miniseries exist because of strange economic wrinkles. The nature of the medium is so episodic, so finely grained that it is forced to satisfy the needs created by the sameness and thinness. Its why MacDonalds' sells chicken.

So just as the main fare is perverted in a cartoonish simple sense, so is the antidote extreme in the other.

To feed this beast, you need to have stories that only have scope in the larger context and you must (a rule) be able to get that context only by watching more than one chunk, what in TeeVee land is called an episode. Its a strange term that belies its odd requirements.

Into this niche have long come soap operas, shaped by emotional bumpings and worries of extreme characters. And for a few decades the rich uncle of soap operas have flourished as well. These have to be lush, set in a romantic era. And if they come from a respected novel, so very much the better.

Its better because viewers think they are doing something intelligent, and also because writers don't have to thrash out the essential mechanics. But in reality it doesn't matter what the source material, these all go through more or less the same refining process and come out the other end much the same. Its a matter of market need.

If you actually read the books behind these you'll find a bewildering variety that isn't apparent in their small screen translations. Where Austen (for example) was all about the appearance, Eliot was about the internal holding of bonds. Where Austen was all about attaining a position, Eliot, writing in the next generation, was about the challenges of holding those positions.

In a way, Eliot's innovation was get inside, under the appearance. It doesn't matter what the doctor's house or service look like, only that some nitwit thinks the appearance is important. Its a bit scandalous that as we consume this product, what attracts us, at root, is the appearance of the thing. We are the enemy she writes about.

If you just glanced at this, you'd find it indistinguishable from any of the other such pretty things it is classified with. Its a true insult to the book. An absolute scandal. The creative team should be driven out of the village. Cinematic heathens!

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.