The Way We Live Now

One of Trollope's longest tomes, 'The Way We Live Now' is a tale of greed and downfall in London during the 1880's boom. It tells the tale of a visiting conman, Melmotte, who decides this time to stay in his chosen destination after having been forced to leave Vienna in haste after causing another of the financial scandals in his long career. With many characters and subplots, this is a hard book to adapt to the screen. The BBC has managed a competent interpretation nontheless, squeezing the whole thing into only five hours.

David Suchet as the protagonist, Melmotte, is excellent: a dark and charismatic foil to the foppish aristocrats who disdain all about him except his money. His daughter, Marie Melmotte, is particularly sweet. Apart from a few quirks like Mrs Hurtle's bizarre American accent (did American ladies really talk with a Jerry Hall drawl in the nineteenth century)? this is an extremely pleasing production.

The Way We Live Now is yet another British TV adaptation of the works of Anthony Trollope. Like The Pallisers and The Barchester Chronicles this is yet another mini-series to savor. The rich setting of 1870's London society is boldly brought to the screen. David Suchet gives the performance of his career as scoundrel Augustus Malmotte. Equally brilliant is Shirley Henderson as his daughter Marie. Henderson has emerged as one of the more spellbinding thespians of the last ten years. Why she isn't a major star when performers with a tiny fraction of her talent are on the A-list is one of those mysteries that will never be explained. Still, this is not quite up there in the same league with The Pallisers. Some of the characters are not that interesting. Unfortunately, Miranda Otto as Mrs. Hurtle and Cillian Murphy as Paul Montague are miscast.

This is, by far, one of the best BBC Drama series that I have ever seen in my entire life. Although the story takes a while to start off, the series and especially the end will not disappoint you. I am no fan of the BBC costume drama's (they have made so many, I almost lost the count) but since I was a Poirot fan and therefore a David Suchet fan, I gave this a try and as I said, I was surprised by the effect it had on me.

The acting is at it's very best, and my attention again goes to David Suchet in particular, because he kept amazing me every time I saw him on screen in the role of Augustus Melmotte, I can't find the words to say how perfect his acting is. Not much actors get close to perfection... but David Suchet most certainly does.

Matthew MadFadyen, Cillian Murphy, Miranda Otto and a whole range of other actors also deserve to be praised. Just as the brilliant David Yates and the memorable music of Nicholas Hooper.

If you have never seen this series, don't hesitate for a moment and buy it on DVD. I'm sure you will agree with me ;) .

"The Way We Live Now" (2001) is a four-episode BBC miniseries directed by David Yates. The book is based on a novel written by Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882). Trollope was a brilliant Victorian novelist, but, unlike his contemporary Charles Dickens, Trollope's name is not nearly as well known in the 21st Century. However, the BBC has produced several of his works, and they are worth seeing.

This novel is Trollope's longest, and possibly his most complex. Someone has estimated that there are over 100 named characters, and subplots abound. However, all the plots and subplots involve Augustus Melmotte, a shady character with grandiose schemes. Melmotte has the uncanny ability to make people want to give him money. He wants the money because his goal in life is to be an English gentleman.

If there had been a weak actor playing Augustus Melmotte, the whole movie would have fallen apart. This movie hung together because David Suchet played Melmotte so well. You'll have to see the film to know just how completely Suchet takes over the role of Melmotte.

Most of the supporting cast was at the usual high BBC level. Matthew Macfadyen plays Sir Felix Carbury, the cad, very well. Paloma Baeza plays Hetta Carbury, his lovely sister who is everything Sir Felix is not.

I think that the two weakest actors were Cillian Murphy as Paul Montague, and Miranda Otto as Mrs. Hurtle. Paul Montague is supposed to be the perfect Victorian hero. He's an engineer, and he isn't driven by greed. He's driven by the goal of designing and building the Mexican railroad. (The Mexican railroad is the starting point of Melmotte's rise to financial power.) The problem is that Murphy doesn't look or act the part. His character is not that different--in appearance or manner--from Sir Felix Carbury. They are supposed to be at opposite poles, but they aren't.

Miranda Otto is an Australian actor who has been given the role of an American from Oregon. Otto has a strong Southern US accent, which doesn't work. It's certainly possible that Mrs. Hurtle was originally from the U.S. South, and moved to Oregon. However, her Southern accent doesn't sound right, and it's clear that she is struggling with it whenever she's on screen.

As an interesting side note, Mr. Brehgert, a Jewish banker, is acted by Jim Carter, who plays Carson the butler on Downton Abbey. He's in love with an elegant Englishwoman, and his religion stands in the way of their marriage. His bank lends money to Melmotte. That's another subplot that revolves around the mysterious Augustus Melmotte.

I enjoyed this miniseries, and I recommend it highly. Without Suchet it could have been a failure. With Suchet, it's a triumph. We saw it on the small screen at home, and it worked very well. (There are a few outdoor scenes that would work better in a theater, but most of them are fillers put into the movie to "open it up." The real plots take place indoors, and they work well on DVD.) Seek out this movie and watch it! You'll be glad you did.

We're still talking at home about David Suchet's performance, he's repulsive, horrifying, lying, charismatic, ugly, likable, credible and incredible. If he had been in an A movie, he could of had all the awards. I thought there weren't any actors like this around anymore. His character is Citizen Kane combined with Dracula, and he inhabits it with a vengeance. And the story! It seems to always be consciously paralleling the dot-com or Enron debacles, but isn't that what business has been like ever since stocks began?