razor323

Not another kidnap[ing show, I thought. (MISSING, Season 1, was already harrowing.) Anyway, becuz it's French, I stayed on. Just finished Episode 2; and it does get better. The plot if more complicated and layered.

I've really enjoyed this Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation. The cast is excellent (OK, Ben Kingsley as the older M Duval may seem a but young); but otherwise a young Colin Firth and a luminous Greta Scacchi look and play the lovers very well. Production values are great since it was shot entirely in France. And most important of all, Marguerite's consumption was underplayed -- NOT bathetic; so it plays very well. The script is also excellent. All in all, I enjoyed it more than the very ARTIFICICAL Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor version.

Soarise Ronan is NO Vanessa Redgrave and Margot Robbie is NO Glenda Jackson. This is such a weak, denatured telling compared to the more glorious 1971 version; and yes, admittedly it was based on Maxwell Anderson's play. But it was precisely Anderson's language that gave the 1st go-around such dramatic fireworks. This one is a lame, telegrapher version that tailors the story to the camera; and similarly, panders to PC-ness by casting so many minorities in the Scot and English courts. REALLY? It is so distracting and a travesty on history and does a disservice to the paying movie-goer by feeding into that "casting diversity" BUT WHOLLY FALSE Representation, of historical fact. The hairdos of the 2 queens are quite silly and again, dressing all the men in BLACK and just giving color to the queens' costumes betrays such self-conscious techniques that they are all doing these FOR THE CAMERA, not in the interests of historical accuracy. Quite disappointing.