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Wives And Daughters [1999]
from 2 Entertain Video
starring Justine Waddell, Bill Paterson, Francesca Annis, Keeley Hawes, Tom Hollander

Features:

• Box set
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

Given the great success of Pride and Prejudice (1995) and that Jane Austen wrote so little, the BBC and screenwriter Andrew Davies looked elsewhere for material of comparable quality. Wives and Daughters by Mrs (Elizabeth) Gaskell is set around 1860 and tells the story of 17-year-old Molly (Justine Waddell), beloved daughter of the widowed Dr Gibson (Bill Paterson). A mercenary stepmother (Francesca Annis) and inconstant stepsister (Keeley Hawes) bring refined havoc to genteel country life, with complications ensuing when both young women fall in love with the youngest son of Squire Hamley (Michael Gambon). This is a wonderfully observed insight into Victorian village life, encompassing comedy, romance and high emotion in a four-episode, five-hour adaptation. Making the most of Davies' subtle and detailed screenplay, there are great, flamboyant performances by Michael Gambon and Francesca Annis. Keeley Hawes, Barbara Flynn and Ian Glen are excellent too, but the revelation is the beguiling central performance by Justine Waddell, also the star of Great Expectations (1999). The photography and production design are gorgeous, as is John Keane's music. Wives and Daughters is as compelling and entertaining as any Jane Austen, and possibly Andrew Davies' best literary adaptation to-date. --Gary S. Dalkin

Andrew Davies' 1999 adaptation of Mrs Gaskell's Wives and Daughters was hailed as the rediscovery of a "forgotten" classic novel and found the BBC on the crest of a wave with costume dramas--led by Pride and Prejudice. Handsome and beautifully filmed, if anything, it surpassed the quality of even that highly praised landmark production.

"We should all look pretty strange under a microscope," botanist Robert Hamley tells our heroine Molly Gibson and of course Mrs Gaskell places all her characters under intense scrutiny, with affection but without judgement. Davies' screenplay peals back the layers, giving full vent to the comedy, tragedy and satire that drive this tale of provincial life to its highly satisfactory conclusion. Justine Waddell imbues Molly with an increasingly exasperated but remarkably forbearing intelligence, while Francesca Annis, as the outrageously self-absorbed step-mother Hyacinth, paints a wonderful portrait of affectation without ever totally alienating our sympathy. Michael Gambon's immensely touching Squire Hamley won him a Best Actor BAFTA, but all the performances are uniformly excellent, contributing immeasurably to five hours of television drama of the highest calibre.

On the DVD: Presented in 16:9 format with a Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack, this two-disc presentation retains all the hallmarks of the original BBC viewing experience. The picture quality is lush--the production lighting is excellent--and the sound quality sharp. The only gripe is with the extras: the Omnibus documentary "Who the Dickens is Mrs Gaskell?" is brutally truncated, cutting off talking heads like novelists Fay Weldon and Margaret Drabble in their prime and giving limited insight into how the production was made. As an audio bonus, there is also 30 minutes of John Keane's music.--Piers Ford

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

• good news!
  Impeccable acting. Speech and deportment faultless. How nice to be able to hear every word spoken, unlike some recent Austen adaptations, e.g. Kate Beckinsale and Keira Knightley, both of whom were far too 21st century slovenly.

• Fabulous 10 stars - looking forward to Cranford
  This has to be one of my favourite BBC adaptations, rating alongside Pride and Prejudice. Andrew Davies again has done an excellent job, he can be forgiven a bit for his Northanger Abbey, which considering the length of the piece is understandable. I know other reviewers think this isn't quite as good, but I think Wives and Daughters is a bit of a slow burner. It isn't instantly as enticing as Pride but you will grow to love it just as much. I won't bore you with plot details as it has been done before,... more info

• Fabulous; a must for costume drama fans
  This is based on the last novel that Mrs Gaskell wrote, and unfortunately, she died before completing it. We can be sure that she did intend a happy ending, but I'm not sure she would have intended quite the ending that this adaptation shows. However, that is a very minor gripe about what is an absolutely fabulous adaptation of a very readable book. Every character was spot on and all exactly as they appear in the book (with the possible exception for me of Osborne Hamley - not good looking enough). The... more info

• A very good adaptation of a very good novel. Michael Gambon is brilliant.
  After watching it may times over, this has become one of my favorite screen adaptations of classical novels. I never thought any movie could come close to Pride and Prejudice in that sense, but this one truly does. Elizabeth Gaskell (novelist) has no black and white characters, just like in George Eliot novels one learns to understand the misfortunes and good sides of the less sympathetic people(like the step mother and step daughter at the start) and one feels with all characters, which in my opinion gives... more info

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