After I finished Little Dorrit I decided the antidote was The Way We Live Now, a 2001 miniseries based on the book by Anthony Trollope. One of the plotlines in Little Dorrit is that a man named Mr. Murdle is "the man of the age" who can make anyone rich if they invest with him. It turns out to be one big scam. That is basically the central plot of The Way We Live Now. I also watched because I found Matthew Macfayden to be dull and uncharismatic in Little Dorrit but remember him being good in The Way We Live Now. So it was time to see if my memory was correct.
It was.
First to my point about Matthew Macfadyen. Admittedly, I have a bias against him because I don't like his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. In Little Dorrit he had the challenging task of playing one of those deadly dull "good" characters that Dickens writes. But even so, he didn't seem to bring much charm to the role. He was just sort of...there. Claire Foy played a character who was impossibly sweet and selfless and yet still managed to make her compelling.
Well, after rewatching The Way We Live Now I think Macfadyen is miscast as good guys because he is fantastic as profligate hot mess Sir Felix Carbury. He makes all the worst life choices yet still swaggers around like he owns the place. Macfadyen gleefully embraces all Sir Felix's awfulness, yet still manages to be charming and have just a tinge of humanity.
The best parts are his scenes with Marie Melmotte (the excellent Shirley Henderson). Marie is the wealthy daughter of the main financier and every unmarried man in London is trying to win her hand (and therefore her money). At first Marie seems shy and awkward, and Sir Felix's suave confidence easily sweeps her off her feet. But she turns out to be much more than he bargained for-- she can't keep her hands off him and is ready to run away together even if it means being disinherited (not the plan at all). The power dynamic between them is constantly shifting and they have great comedic chemistry.
Henderson as Marie is one of the overall highlights of this adaptation. She starts as a comical character but proves she has a strong will, and by the end you are rooting for her to come out on top.
The story is biting social satire without the sweetness of Austen or Dickens. That means that most of the characters aren't exactly good people, but they are complex and interesting. This adaptation works because the acting is really fantastic throughout.
David Suchet is a standout as Augustus Melmotte, the shady financier who has all of London high society clamoring to invest with him. He is clearly a bad guy, but most of the pompous, old-money Englishmen he is fleecing aren't great people either. It is fun to see him push them around and not give them the fawning reverence that they expect.
A few other reasons to watch:
Cillian Murphy is in this and is very attractive and has an excellent hair situation.
Miranda Otto plays an American with a bizarre Texas accent and a history of shooting men who cross her. One of the main plots is about building a railway through the American southwest and clearly everyone in England at this time thinks the US is a lawless nightmare place.
BUSTLE GOWNS
Henderson as Marie is one of the overall highlights of this adaptation. She starts as a comical character but proves she has a strong will, and by the end you are rooting for her to come out on top.
The story is biting social satire without the sweetness of Austen or Dickens. That means that most of the characters aren't exactly good people, but they are complex and interesting. This adaptation works because the acting is really fantastic throughout.
David Suchet is a standout as Augustus Melmotte, the shady financier who has all of London high society clamoring to invest with him. He is clearly a bad guy, but most of the pompous, old-money Englishmen he is fleecing aren't great people either. It is fun to see him push them around and not give them the fawning reverence that they expect.
A few other reasons to watch:
Cillian Murphy is in this and is very attractive and has an excellent hair situation.
This character is named Dolly Longestaffe and his hair, on the other hand, is delightfully atrocious.
Miranda Otto plays an American with a bizarre Texas accent and a history of shooting men who cross her. One of the main plots is about building a railway through the American southwest and clearly everyone in England at this time thinks the US is a lawless nightmare place.
Can't resist a good bustle.
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