Aristocrats (3pc)

Aristocrats (3pc)
by David Caffrey (II)

Aristocrats (3pc)
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Category: VHS Video
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VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Alun Armstrong, Ben Daniels, Geraldine Somerville, Julian Fellowes, Serena Gordon
Director: David Caffrey (II)
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued
Running Time: 246 minutes
Release Date: 2000-07-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: BBC Warner
Studio: BBC Warner

VHS Movie Reviews of Aristocrats (3pc)

Movie Review: Intriguing...Yet utlimately Dull
Summary: 3 Stars

I thoroughly enjoy a good Period epic- and at the beginning I was very much intrigued by the premise of these Aristocratic sisters, yet the actors themselves quickly began to bore me. The dialogue became a bit tired- and most importantly you don't really develop much of a sense of connection with the main character Emily- She is narrating- and you do get to find out more of what she thinks and feels- but I was still bored with her. I struggled to care about what was going to happen next- it always seemed as if the sisters and their husbands were always trying to out do each other- maybe with the exception of Louisa and her husband. I know that is supposed to be the creator of the tension- but it ends up just becoming tedious. Also I felt that casting Alun Armstrong as Mr.Fox was totally odd. It's hard to imagine that a woman like Caroline would be taken with interest when seeing him the first time. I'm sorry- couldn't they have cast a better looking actor?? It does explain the way his and Caroline's children turn out. They are even more hideous than he is- although I don't know whether the casting director had that direct intent when he cast them as their children. But- apart from that qualm about casting-it really could have been a good film- it had beautiful costumes and settings and an air of authenticity- yet it never really picks up. It really comes back to the lack of good characters. They are just too one dimensional to really care about them. I agree with another of the reviewers that it is worth renting- but it is one of those series that I really don't care to ever see again now that I have seen it once.

Summary of Aristocrats (3pc)

At one point during The Aristocrats, the dutiful, devoted, yet rather dim husband of Louisa Lennox cannot find the word to describe the magnificent party they are attending. "Resplendent," his wife offers. That pretty much describes this impeccably mounted BBC miniseries.

Based on the biography by Stella Tillyard, The Aristocrats vividly re-creates "a different world" that would eventually be shattered by rebellion and bloodshed. "The much pampered" Emily Lennox narrates her family's history, as tumultuous as it was charmed. The Lennox sisters, Caroline (Serena Gordon), Emily (Geraldine Somerville, and as an older woman, Sian Phillips), Louisa (Anne-Marie McDuff), and Sarah (Jodhi May), were of royal blood and they mixed with royalty. Part 1 chronicles elder daughter Caroline's "small rebellion" that tears her family apart. Against her father's wishes ("I would sooner let you sell fish in the street," he thunders), she marries for love Henry Fox, a politician who is 20 years older. Caroline is banished from the house and her sisters' lives. Part 2 charts the misfortunes of sister Sarah, who as a child was a favorite of the king and is later courted, but ultimately rejected, by his heir. She becomes "an inconvenient woman," scandalizing her family with her indiscretions. Part 3 makes the last reel of Gone with the Wind look like Singin' in the Rain as bittersweet reunions, sibling rivalries, death, infidelities, and revolution take their tragic toll.

Originally broadcast on Mobil Masterpiece Theatre, The Aristocrats is presented on video in a three-volume set. Anglophiles will find it difficult not to take in all 246 minutes in a single sitting. But the peerless ensemble and rich production ensures rewarding repeat viewings. --Donald Liebenson

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