Bleak House (TV Mini Series 2005) - Bleak House (TV Mini Series 2005) - User Reviews - IMDb
92 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
Excellent Dickens adaptation
didi-518 November 2005
Half-way through this version of Charles Dickens' weighty novel seems a good time to comment on it. The BBC have taken the view that, as Bleak House was originally presented to its reading public in short magazine instalments, it is a good idea to present it in half-hour segments twice a week in the soap opera tradition.

Andrew Davies, who has adapted other books before such as Pride and Prejudice and House of Cards, has done an excellent job here - tweaking and inventing as you must to make television drama work, but without losing the context of the piece.

Despite the jarring camera work and bitty scenes, there are some outstanding performances here - Charles Dance as the scheming lawyer Tulkinghorn; Denis Lawson as John Jarndyce, attracted to his ward Esther despite having paid for her upkeep since she was a child; Pauline Collins as Miss Flyte, ever twittering on alongside her caged birds about 'the day of judgement'; Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock, who tries to hide her mysterious secret; Johnny Vegas, who fits the character of drunken landlord Krook like a glove; and many others.

There are also witty and perceptive cameos from the likes of Richard Griffiths, Matthew Kelly, and Ian Richardson.

I would have preferred to see hour-long episodes but that is only a small quibble (the other would be the invention of a character - Clamb - who seems to serve no useful purpose). This is an inventive and excellent adaptation; not replacing the classic 1980s version, perhaps, but a worthy companion to it.
38 out of 40 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Shake me up, indeed!
kaaber-222 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Just got up from a viewing of Chadwick and White's BBC version of "Bleak House" - in one sitting. Couldn't turn it off and leave it at any time. I hardly know where to begin my praise, and I most surely do not know where to end. "Bleak House" happens to be my favourite Dickens novel, and I would have thought it impossible to make a truly successful film of this vast work on the power of goodness in a rotten world. Well, part of the key, of course, is that it runs eight hours, but the fact that it never drags, not for one minute, is not entirely Mr. Dickens' feat - the success rests by and large on the most eminent editing that I can remember to have seen. The cutting among the many stories contained in the novel is executed so skillfully that we never feel for one moment that the film takes us where we are not dying to go. The main characters are wonderfully cast, and somehow Carey Mulligan and Patrick Kennedy steer clear of turning Ada and Richard into a goody-goody and the proverbial rake. Anna Maxwell shines above all others as Esther Summerson, but hard on her heels are Charles Dance who avoids making an out-and-out villain of Tulkinghorn, Burn Gorman's wonderfully touching Guppy (extra credit to him for hitting the mark in a role that begs to be grotesquely overacted) and Harry Eden's Jo. But then again, there's not a false note in this entire production. Gillian Anderson, too, deserves mention. Not cul-de-sacked by her X-file past (in which she was brilliant, btw & imo), she delivers a marvelously restrained Lady Dedlock. Top notch acting.

I am not easy to shake up at the movies anymore, although I have occasionally experienced a lump in my throat, what with the recent fashion in tearjerkers, but I am not ashamed to confess that I cried like a flogged nun at the death of Jo the Crossing-sweep, and again at the final reunion of Esther Summerson and Lady Dedlock.

Surely, this is Dickens as he should be. I wish he could have seen it.
44 out of 45 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A breathtaking East wind
pekinman2 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
450+ minutes of a film is a long time to have your breath taken away but that's what happened when I first watched this magnificent adaptation of my favorite Dickens novel 'Bleak House.'

I always liked the earlier version starring Denham Elliot, Diana Rigg and Peter Vaughan, but this new version, adapted by Andrew Davies is superlative to the former in every way. For one thing it is more complete. The earlier version left out several characters altogether and glossed over most of the high emotion.

I'm not always a fan of Davie's work but Bleak House is a masterpiece of screen adaptation, even better than his Moll Flanders, which has long been one of my old standbys for a rainy evening or two.

Anna Maxwell Martin looks unprepossessing with her whey-face and funny lisp, but quickly her strength and intelligence waylay any doubts as to her being nigh-perfect as Esther Sommerson.

The only minor quibble with her in this role is that she looks nothing like Gillian Anderson's Lady Dedlock or John Lynch's Captain Hawdon, Esther's parents. This hardly matters in the face of some of the greatest acting I've seen come out of England on film over many years, and that is saying something.

As an Illinoisian I am proud to claim the beautiful and brilliant Gillian Anderson as a fellow traveler, she is from Chicago. Her Lady Dedlock is fascinating and goddess-like yet possessing a deeply human spark that she has buried under years of keeping her dark secret.

Bleak House is about secrets. It is a deep story, full of tragedy and human comedy at once. The villains are vile, notably Charles Dance's Mr Tulkinghorn. It isn't that Mr Tulkinghorn is evil, we create evil or reject it, but that he is just a cold cold human being who lives solely by the law, the ever-increasing book of the law that weighs down the human spirit and kills in the end. This is the best thing Charles Dance has done.

The entire cast is beyond reproach, and with two classic performances by Burn Gorman, the very embodiment of Mr Guppy, and Pauline Collins' bird-like Miss Flyte, I can't imagine Bleak House ever being more perfectly cast.

Even the cat playing Mr Krook's Lady Jane is a brilliant actor. I love cats but this is the most butt-ugly feline I have ever laid eyes upon. She looks like a cross between a bulldog and a toilet bowl brush, hisses on cue, flops over and groans, all with perfect timing. She glares malevolently with great meaning and comprehension and appears in almost every episode. A great performance.

There are some powerfully emotional scenes, not in a manipulative sense but in a deep, spontaneous sense. Anna Maxwell Martin and Gillian Anderson are dynamite, and their one and only scene together is second only to Jo's Death in impact.

Being Dickens there is also some fine humor along the way. Alas, some villains are allowed to get away with their wickedness, like the vile Mr Smallweed (Phil Davis is horribly fabulous as the seedy old money-grubber) and the good suffer horribly. It's hard-hitting stuff, Bleak House, and very pertinent to our times.

The cinematography, music, costumes, everything are great.

I can't think of a greater Dickens film adaptation. If you love his books you will want this set. If you don't know Dickens but like A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim then this Bleak House may be the entryway to the deeper worlds of Charles Dickens.
20 out of 20 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Wonderful acting
pawebster19 November 2005
This is a great achievement by the BBC -- at last their costume dramas are back on track, with a great cast, all acting their socks off. It is invidious to pick some of them out, but Esther is particularly good (it is not easy to portray a young Dickensian heroine, as sickly sweetness always lurks at hand). Many have rightly praised Mr Guppy, too. Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock is maybe a bit too icy (frozen solid?), but that's what the role calls for, I suppose.

Another excellent feature is the period atmosphere. There is a richness here, running right through the production. The costumes and hair are also very convincing, unlike in some recent period dramas. Here the hair actually flops around as it should, and the costumes look like real clothes.

Some people hate the gimmicky camera work and 'whooshing' noises. These will make the production date. (They'll look ridiculous in a few years' time, I fear), but I didn't find them too distracting.

This must be the BBC's best since the 1995 Pride and Prejudice.
41 out of 46 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Extraordinary
robertconnor25 April 2007
Sheer brilliance at work here as Dickens' multi-stranded plot is woven into a magical TV production. Bleak House works on every single level, and certainly left this viewer alternately gripped or moved, as Davies rolls out the parallel stories of the Jarndyce wards and their companion Esther Summerson, and the slow, horrible destruction wrought on Honoria Deadlock.

Casting is absolute perfection, right down to the minor characters, and Chadwick, White and Rhode James have enabled the most delicious characterisations from every player. Maxwell Martin is delightful as Esther, making her totally believable and real - there isn't a trace of 'acting' in sight, so luminous and real is she. As Honoria Deadlock, Anderson is astonishing - post-X-Files, she has once again proved herself as one of the most versatile female actors around (reference also The House of Mirth and The Mighty Celt). Her ability to convey such intense emotions - grief, panic, terror - hidden behind a composed countenance is sublime. However, singling these two out in no way lessens the performances from other cast members - each in turn creates an incredibly believable character.

So one of the BBC triumphs of the decade, and unmissable in every respect!
21 out of 22 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Absolutely Riveting 10/10
ChrisQ30 November 2005
Bleak House is not a book I have read. I was however aware that the central story concerned the never-ending courtroom litigation of Jarndyce versus Jarndyce. As a child, this book, I decided was way too boring to read. How wrong I was. I never dreamt that a Dickens novel could become such an obsession in later life.

This dazzling adaptation is serialised in the same way that Dickens serialised his masterpiece in the popular press. Each half-hour episode ends on a cliff-hanger. We, the viewers, are forced to count the days until the next episode is screened. ( and there is only 6 more to go!!!) It is impossible to find fault with the production. The characterisations and directing are the best I have seen from the Drama Department of the BBC. They have managed to capture the gloom, grime and squalor of the late 19th century convincingly.

Each actor is ideally cast. Charles Dance as the lawyer Tulkinghorn is evil personified. Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock, totally unrecognisable from her X-File days, is fragile and enigmatic. Particularly noteworthy in the host of Dickensian eccentrics are Pauline Collins as Miss Flite, Johnny Vegas as Krook and Philip Davis as "Shake me up Judy" Smallweed and Burn Gorman as Guppy. However it is invidious to single anyone out of such a stellar casting.

I cannot give this drama a higher recommendation
121 out of 131 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Even if you don't like Dickens, see this film!
Red-1258 June 2013
"Bleak House" (2005), is a miniseries directed by Justin Chadwick (8 episodes) and Susanna White (7 episodes). This movie is a superb adaptation of the book that many believe is Dickens' best novel.

The plot follows the fortunes of a young woman, Esther Summerson, after she arrives a a country mansion called Bleak House. Esther, played by Anna Maxwell Martin, has grown up unloved and unwelcome, but she finds a comfortable position as companion to a young woman with more means.

Much of the plot hinges on Esther's relationships with those around her. However, an underlying and ongoing theme is a protracted law case--"Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce." The case sucks in--and ultimately destroys--almost all of the potential heirs.

Intertwined in the plot is the relationship of Lady Dedlock (Gillian Anderson) to Esther. And, intimately involved in everything is the lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn, played by Charles Dance.

The film succeeds because of the strength of the novel, the strength of the adaptation, the strength of the BBC production values, and the strength of the minor characters.

However, what lifts this movie above the basic excellence of other BBC adaptations is the extraordinary acting of Dance and Anderson. You believe that Mr. Tulkinghorn can always achieve what he wants. You believe that he wants power about all else, and you believe that there is no limit to what he'll do to achieve that power.

Gillian Anderson was born to play Lady Dedlock. With her slender, erect figure, her incredible blue eyes, and her unremittingly haughty demeanor, she becomes Lady Dedlock. Obviously, Gillian Anderson is an attractive woman. However, this attractiveness reaches new heights when she portrays Lady Honoria Dedlock. Try this experiment: go to Google Image, and click on "Gillian Anderson, X-Files." Then click on "Gillian Anderson, Lady Dedlock." You'll see what I mean.

Bleak House is not a happy novel, and the film is not a happy film. The directors make the movie very depressing by showing repeated scenes of the dirt and degradation found in 19th Century London. When the location is one of the country estates, they avoid the pleasure we would get from grass, trees, and flowers. When they switch to the rural scenes, the directors start with a series of jump cuts, accompanied by harsh metallic sounds. They are telling us, "This may be the country, but don't expect a break from the grim story lines."

I think this movie would be better seen on the large screen. However, it was made for the small screen, and it certainly worked well enough on DVD. If you love Dickens, this film is a must see. If you don't love Dickens, it's still a must see. Find it and watch it.
8 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Magnificent adaptation of Dickens
Balthazar-56 November 2005
Having worked in the cinema for most of my life, I tend to regard television - virtually all television - as shallow and second rate. But here is a totally magnificent adaptation of one of Dickens' more challenging novels.

As in most Dickens, here money - a surfeit and a lack of it - structures the complex comings and goings of a labyrinthine plot. The characters are fabulous and some of them - Skimpole and Mr Guppy, for example - may very well become well-known archetypes due to the popularity and power of this adaptation, in the same way that Micawber and Fagin are. The darkness of the sets makes for some wonderfully expressive design work, and the music is brilliantly chosen.

In fact it might be perfect...it's just that Anna Maxwell Martin as the central Esther Summerson is just a bit too simpering... But when you think how flaccid Charles Dance usually is, his Tulkinghorn is a truly creepy creation.... Plenty more to come, but to date (after four episodes), this looks to me better Dickens than anything outside Christine Edzard's 'Little Dorritt' and Lean's 'Great Expectations' - and it could even better them...
53 out of 64 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Brilliant Dickens Adaption
johnmbale1 December 2006
Bleak House is certainly one of the best adaptions of Dickens brought to the TV screens. It distills the essence of the long novel graphically and with a some brilliant characterizations by the superb cast. There is real feeling here for the period and the book. An truly excellent cast including perhaps surprisingly Gillian Anderson (The X Files) who impresses as the cool Lady Dedlock, Charles Dance as the sinister Tulkinghorn, Denis Lawson as kindly John Jarndyce, Alun Amstrong as Bucket, Nathaniel Parker as Skimpole, Pauline Collins as Miss Flute, Burn Gorman as poor Guppy, and particularly Philip Davis as the dreadful Smallweed, all wonderful Dickensian characters. The sets and locations have the right feel for the story the photography of a high order, with the only quibble being the zip shots into each sequence, a modern stylistic trick that does nothing to enhance the period story. Considering the complexity of the story and its great length the editors have done a great job in never letting the film drag. I rather think that Charles Dickens if he were still around would heartily approve.
10 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Midway and it's captivating!
IOBdennis7 February 2006
PBS is broadcasting "Bleak House" as an initial 2-hour segment, followed by 1-hour segments on subsequent weeks, for I believe 5 weeks: a total of 6 broadcasts. Now, halfway through, I have to say that this is some of the best, if not the best, television I have ever seen. The actors are incredible. The cast is perfect. Every single one of them is a master at his or her craft. Nothing finer! The tele-film is superb from the grimy lighting and atmosphere to parallel Dickens' own description of his times. The only thing I can find fault with is the soundtrack. The "whooshing," "clanging" transitions I find off-putting, but to me a minor flaw in this otherwise outstanding rendition of one of Dickens' most daunting novels.
14 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Early days but the signs are good
alfa-1628 October 2005
With just one episode broadcast, it's clearly possible that the BBC Drama Department may have it's second big success of 2005.

With an Andrew Davies script you know what you're getting, predictable, competent, unimaginative but faithful. Whether this series will go down with the classics or not will be down to the direction and the performances. And the signs are good. Very good.

Gillian Anderson fans looking in may miss her first scene, there is no trace of Scully whatsoever. People who've always suspected her of having more talent than she's had the opportunity to show are going to be saying "I told you so" to anyone who will listen for the next few months. She's that good. But Bleak House has the strongest cast we've seen in an adaptation since Brideshead. We've seen enough already to suggest that it's going to be full of gems And Anna Maxwell Martin, almost a TV débutante, may just be about to turn in one of the top central performances of recent times.

Set your videos and PVRs and don't miss a minute.

It'll be better than Rome.

(Update) We're halfway through and it's brilliant. Dickens can't write a shallow character so it needs a lavish cast to do him justice and that's what we have here. Gillian Anderson is brilliant, Charles Dance is memorable, Carey Mulligan, Pauline Collins and Johnny Vegas are outstanding, but Anna Maxwell Martin and Burn Gorman are just out of this world. I feel sorry for our American friends, impatient to get started but also jealous that they have the whole thing to look forward, to whereas we are now, sadly, over halfway through.

If you really can't wait, get the DVD of North & South (2004) and watch the adorable Anna twinkle in that.
62 out of 76 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Just Incredibly Brilliant
martimusross27 January 2019
Andrew Davies quite incredibly has turned this most indigestible of all Dicken's novels into a tour de force of dramatic impetus, fine characterisation and a real sense of menace and intrigue. The most indigestible novel in the English language is The Cathedral by Hugh Walpole.

The "problem" with Dicken's is always the number of characters, the need he has for stereotypes and personality definition above this stereotype. Sometimes you can hear Dicken's talking to the reader directly and can make the characters very similar.

Mr Davies rises above these "traps" that would lessen this dramatisation.

Where to even comment about the acting just incredible. Tulkinghorn was evil incarnate, Lady Deadlock was a masterful expression of suppressed emotion. If I was handing out Oscars this would win the lot.

I am aghast how unpopular Dicken's is these days and we must all promote perhaps our greatest author to give him the global exposure of his thoughts on the human condition.
5 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Perfect despite its imperfections
ianlouisiana25 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
In his introduction to the TV tie - in edition of "Bleak House" Professor Terry Eagleton writes:- "Like most Dickens novels,"Bleak House" is a wonderfully overpopulated work,crammed to the seams with grotesques,eccentrics,amiable idiots and moral monstrosities". The first task of adaptor Andrew Davis was,to many Dickens scholars, sheer sacrilege,the winnowing down of huge number of characters that pop up in various places in the narrative,seemingly unconnected,but all part of the author's overall vision of and structure for his work. Mr Davis was in a "no win" situation as far as the academics were concerned and there was general discontent in the Ivory Tower community that their hero's great work was to be reduced - as they saw it - to the level of a soap opera for the edification of the unwashed.It had clearly escaped their closed minds that Dickens had written the book in the first place with an intention not so far removed from the one they abhorred. In the event he succeeded brilliantly,producing not "Bleak House Lite", as many had feared,but a production that caught the core values of the novel and evoked the look and feel of the period perfectly. My only criticism - and it is a minor one - is that it occasionally yields to the temptation common to many post 80s prestigious TV series where the makers are apparently compelled to exercise the techniques they acquired during their apprenticeship in the industry which,as often as not,involved the making of commercials.By their very nature these require that their makers get to the point very quickly with the maximum of noise and flash and with a preponderance of big close-ups and high impact-making shots.It works fine if you're selling a BMW and have to pack it all into 30 seconds but is out of place in an adaptation of a 19th century novel.Having said that,so brilliant was the overall production that I found myself in the end ignoring their little tricks,forgiving them even,and waiting patiently like an indulgent parent for the children to stop showing off. Because when it's on track,"Bleak House" is Television at its highest level.Superbly adapted from a novel that's more accessible than you might think,it's funny.thrilling and moving by turns. It has been carefully cast,rather daringly in some cases,and all the care shows on the screen. Television is of course a huge consumer of talent with hundreds of channels working 24 hours a day.In those circumstances it is hardly surprising that majority of material it turns out is,to put it kindly,mediocre.All the more reason therefore to celebrate when it gets something so right,because despite my misgivings,"Bleak House" is,in my opinion,the best TV drama series since "Roads to Freedom". If you have never read Dickens and doubt his ability to entertain and amuse a 21st century audience I suggest you call at a Public Library,seek out "Bleak House" and simply read Chapter 21 "The Smallweed Family".You will find therein as funny,moving and true a document as you are ever likely to read,by a writer whose perception of the human condition has never been equalled
10 out of 12 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
An outstanding BBC drama, with fantastic acting and very rich in detail.
TheLittleSongbird15 July 2009
The book Bleak House I found rather complicated to be honest with you, and I didn't understand much of the law stuff. But that didn't deter me from watching this superb mini-series, which in every aspect was infinitely better than I expected.

The series' main merit is the period detail. I thought the series captured the Victorian Era perfectly, with its issue of class and the generally dangerous living conditions, just like the 1995 mini-series of Pride and Prejusice did with the late 18th century. The mini-series visually looked splendid, with excellent costumes and well designed sets.

The script was very intelligent, and the direction was slick. The pace was perfectly fine, and the characters were easy to relate to. Excellent music as well.

Another high point was the acting, with outstanding performances from Gillian Anderson as Lady Deadlock, Charles Dance as Tulkinghorn as Dennis Lawson as Jarndyce. Anna Maxwell Martin while not as impressive as Lawson, Anderson and Dance still turned in a lovely performance. In more secondary roles were Hugo Speer,Nathaniel Parker, Johnny Vegas, Burn Gorman Matthew Kelly and my favourite Allun Armstrong as Inspector Bucket. I loved Phil Davis as Smallweed too.

All in all, a hugely satisfying period drama series, that is possibly the best TV drama of 2005. 10/10 Bethany Cox.
7 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Gillian Anderson is luminous
cameronteague4 November 2005
Gillian Anderson is luminous as Lady Dedlock in this adaptation of Dickens's Bleak House. She is helped by the highly atmospheric, Gothic type lighting in many of the scenes which mirrors the dourness and dirt of the era. Particularly effective, are the parts shot in the squalid Victorian homes on winding staircases with peeling paint. Although not yet complete, this is a joy to watch with just the right balance of suspense and comedy. I have had to restrain myself from dipping into the book to find out the ending. I can't remember the last British costume drama I saw which showcased as much acting talent as this, whether it is the dastardly lawyer played by Charles Dance or the slatternly mother who is Lisa Tarbuck; watch out especially for Pauline Collins (a known talent) and Johnny Vegas (a revelation) who are both really rather good. I believe Sheila Hancok is going to appear soon and I am looking forward to that too.
53 out of 61 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Bleak House
natalierosen13 February 2006
I absolutely LOVE PBS Masterpiece Theater production of Bleak House. I think Gillian Anderson is perfection in that role. She brings yes, an icy quality to the role but also a quite humanness and piercing sadness to it as well. There is a crack in that ice that begs to be melted. The ice, I think, comes from years of desperation in a May/December loveless marriage of social class convenience and a yearning for the completed family she ever-so- briefly had. Love, which I think is the centrifugal element of Dickens from which ALL other social ills flow, has been, through no real fault of her own, denied Lady Dedlock in her life. I could talk about this work for hours. I am simply riveted by the character and by Gillian Anderson's performance. I think she is perfect!
10 out of 11 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Great expectations entirely justified
marcelproust21 June 2006
At the forthcoming request for Charter renewal by the BBC, the Governors could do no better than to sit MPs comfortably on their green benches and screen the entirety of Andrew Davies' magisterial adaptation of Dickens' Bleak House.

A TV series that can afford to throw away a consummate actress like Sheila Hancock as a giggling ninny with almost no dialogue who occupies just seconds of screen time must, by definition, be supremely confident in its ability to entertain. Bleak House has that confidence in spades, and rightly so.

There is so much to treasure here - not least from the seemingly unending parade of well-known (to British audiences, at least) faces on parade. I particularly relished Matthew Kelly's absurdly self-important Old Mr Turveydrop, Liza Tarbuck's do-gooding drab, Nathaniel Parker's loathsome Mr Skiphold, Denis Lawson's achingly tender-hearted Mr Jarndyce and Hugo Speer's staunch Sergeant George. But even from the lesser-known cast - like poor, sweet Harry Eden and the two young wards who float prettily at the story's centre - there are moments of pure joy.

Three performances, however, really stand out as being responsible for making this so much more than a collection of delightful cameos. Anna Maxwell Martin provides a calm and sensible centre to the many comings and goings in Dickens' complex tale - her pale, inquisitive face registering calm resignation at the turmoils Esther must undergo. Stalwart of epic dramas like The Jewel in the Crown, Charles Dance is hypnotically dreadful as the wicked Tulkinghorn, glowering and scheming with real menace, and without once resorting to camp.

For me though, the performance of the series (and that is saying something) is Gillian Anderson's Lady Dedlock. Shot in an eerily bleak blue light, and seeming always on the verge of cracking like a porcelain vase, she is nothing short of mesmerising.

In short, the finest TV adaptation of a Dickens novel ever made and another triumph for Andrew Davies and the BBC.
9 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Very Dickens, But Distracting Use of Effects
dane-9228 January 2010
Acting is good. Sets, costumes, etc., are good. Mood is spot-on Dickens. BUT...the directing makes me crazy. It's like "Bleak House Meets Lord of the Rings."

Shaky-cam shots, wild zooms, synthesizer swooshes and whams, over-the-top digital colorization. This story doesn't need all that sci-fi/fantasy production value, and in my opinion, it damages the series.

When style gets in the way of content, it takes away from the story, and regrettably, that's what I feel happens in this adaptation. I really hope directors will step back from this new faddish style, which everybody is copying now, and get back to good storytelling.
17 out of 20 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Outstanding, so far.
qp10qp27 October 2005
I've just watched the first episode, and I thought it was the best classic adaptation on British television for years. (I have been tiring of costume-drama-by-numbers, and of Andrew Davies's superficial adaptations in particular, but they've got this one right, in my opinion). The directing is excellent, producing uniformly good performances from the actors - even from the likes of Johnny Vegas - and particularly from Charles Dance as Tulkinghorn and from the actress playing Esther Summerson (a tiresomely one-dimensional character in the book).

The camera moves around in response to characters' actions in an interesting way, and scenes open and close with swooshing sounds of the sort used these days in sci-fi feature films, keeping things vibrant. Since the early parts of the book are the least successful, I'm sure this serial can't help but go from strength to strength.

My favourite scene was Guppy's hilarious proposal of marriage to Esther.
49 out of 55 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Intelligent Adaptation.
rmax30482327 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
There was a BBC series twenty years earlier with Diana Rigg, rather than Gillian Anderson, in the role of Lady Dedlock but this series from 2005 is superior.

Not because of any noticeable differences in the acting skills of the leads. They're both good. In fact, all the performances in both series are of professional caliber. But this series is better written.

The 1985 version was a genuine struggle to get through because of the lack of continuity. Each episode seemed to have been written by an author who was not on speaking terms with any of the other adapters. Events took place between episodes that were left unexplained. Characters came out of the shadows, did what they did, with or without motivation, and skulked away.

And this long, involved plot has many many characters. Strangely, they all seem to KNOW one another or to have some sub rosa relationship. It reminded me of "Crime and Punishment", in which Petersberg has the qualities of a small, hick town rather than urban anomi. Even in this more recent version, I was lost trying to keep track of who knew whom and how. Sergeant George and the boy Joe, for instance. And the business about the Dedlocks' maid, Rosa, being sent away or not sent away. What was that about? I think it may help if you're a big fan of Dickens or have some familiarity with London, circa 1840 or 1830 or whenever the period is. Otherwise, institutions like the chancery are liable to slip past you and so may the importance of some of the social distinctions. They finessed their way past me because I may be old, but not that old.

The production values are lavish for television. I'm convinced that London looked this crummy at the unbridled height of the industrial age and that people wore such elaborate but ugly clothes. Well -- except for the Dedlocks' servant, Mercury, a tall young man who wears breeches and white stockings of the sort common fifty years earlier. And he has the effete mannerisms to go with the garb.

I gather that this is about as close as Dickens got to a woman's story. Usually he used kids or old men as the central figures. And in the leading role of Esther Sommersun, Anna Maxwell Martin is plain and perceptive. The smallpox of course doesn't enhance the more subtle beauty of her rather flat face but, at that, she was pretty lucky. In severe cases the pustules coalesced and whole patches of the outer skin were sloughed off. The rest of the performers are fine, but Charles Dance as the villainous Mr. Tulkinghorn is outstanding. He must have the frostiest blue eyes in the business and he wields them very effectively. What viewer cannot sigh with relief when he's murdered. (In "China Moon" he was a wife abuser who was murdered.) Carey Mulligan as Ada reaches her twenty-first birthday half way through but she has the pretty, chubby, cherubic face of a rather mature twelve year old.

There are the tribulations we've come to expect from Dickens: the wealthy in their isolated mansions, the poor and sickly, the dying, the little boy who sweeps the street (lots of horses). There's a doctor too, one of the good guys, but he can't offer much help to anyone with the pox or pneumonia or anything. The germ theory of disease didn't exist yet. Quacks handed out black draughts. More respectable doctors ladled out opiates. Surgeons were limited to piercing carbuncles and sawing off limbs without regard for infections. No wonder Dickens has so many of his characters die off. At least, opium being freely available, they went out stoned.

Anyway, this 2005 edition is a vast improvement over the 1985 version, if for no other reason than that more attention was paid to continuity.
5 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
An excellent production, superb performances.
celia789 January 2006
Dickens creates a fascinating world of characters in Bleak House and Davies does an excellent job of capturing the essence of those characters while bringing the production into the realm of 21st Century viewing. The camera work with the quick changes was distracting at times but sometimes accentuated the fast pace of this drama or emphasised plot points.

Watching for well known faces was fun but didn't detract anything from the performances of this superb cast. Anna Maxwell Martin gave a wonderful performance as Esther; outwardly stronger than in the book but this focused the viewer on Esther's strength of character, her compassion, common sense, loyalty and love. Lawson's Jarndyce was touching and gentle; Burn Gorman's Guppy a revelation and Charles Dance was eerily scaring and deliciously malicious.

Gillian Anderson also demonstrated her extreme talents as the aloof, lonely, bored, haughty yet vulnerable Lady Dedlock. Anderson subtly revealed the inner turmoil, fear and long hidden love of the outwardly cold 'My Lady'. With a turn of the head, a facial movement and those eyes that speak volumes she revealed the inner character, very often with no words at all. More Ms. Anderson, please BBC. The colourful performances of Timothy West and Pauline Collins also deserve a mention.

A fabulous production by all. Well done BBC.
18 out of 19 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Breathtaking
clivewood2 December 2005
For me to put finger to keyboard so to speak takes something pretty darned unusual! Bleak House is just that. It is probably the best television I've ever seen and I've seen quite a lot.

I cannot praise this adaptation and the actors highly enough. The production sparkles and one is immediately involved with the story and the characters. I'm writing this with the series almost finished and now wish I'd kept all the recordings I'd made of it. Repeats on the whole are very run of the mill and disappointing but they can repeat this one as often as they like! I too would like it on DVD so I can watch the whole thing over again. Well done BBC..fantastic
49 out of 55 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Brilliant television
michael-stead10 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Too many adaptations of Dickens seem to play up the preposterous aspects of his characterisation; here everything was beautifully underplayed, to terrific effect.

I found the drama as compelling as any modern soap opera. We are so used to the format by now, that it was never going to be a surprise that several seeming unconnected leading characters would end up being close family relations, but it was still fascinating to find out who would be related to whom, and which characters' love stories would end up in happiness.

The performances were so excellent that it seems unnecessary to single a few out for praise. Yet there were some for me that were especially memorable. Gillian Anderson was sublime as Lady Dedlock and I was transfixed whenever she was on screen. The whole relationship between her and her husband and the issue of her 'past' was beautifully portrayed, and I found it very moving towards the end when crusty of Sir Lester (Timothy West) stood by her grave and said 'If only she knew how much I loved her, and how little I cared for what the world thought of her.' Philip Davis' Smallweed was a masterly performance, keeping firmly grounded a character that could so easily have been merely a period grotesque if handled less skillfully. Anna Maxwell Martin made the goody-two-shoes Esther believable and three dimensional. And Johhny Vegas brought an interesting sinister dimension to Krook, which came as something of a surprise to me having known previously only his knock-about subtle-as-a-brick comedy persona.

What particularly pleased me, as someone who tires of shoddy dramas that thrown in foul language and humping bums to generate interest, is that Bleak House brought a tale of sexual misdeeds, and doomed amorous attachments, set partly in a world of grinding poverty, criminality and violence, without the drama itself being offensive. It is rare that drama is really adult these days; but Bleak House was, I felt, real entertainment for grown-ups.
15 out of 17 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A very effective television adaption of Dickens dark "Bleak House".
irvingwarner1 September 2007
You rarely see television OR movie writing this good. "Bleak House" was a landmark transfer of a Dickens novel to the small screen. It must have really suffered, i.e. all sliced up in short episodes; therefore, I consider myself lucky indeed to have seen it on DVD. I was able to let it roll for long-time periods. And I did! The production design, costumes, and things related are outstanding; the photography was also superior. But it is the writing and the acting, when put together, that enabled "Bleak House" to rise way above most other television and screen work. The positive characters are your usual Dickens characters, almost too good to be believed, but writer Andrew Davis handled that very well. It was the rich assortment of villains,e.g. human ragbags, diverse lowlifes -- along with some outright criminals-- that just overwhelmed me. Special mention must be given to Charles Dance (Mr. Tulkington), Philip Davis (Smallweed), Burn Gorman (Guppy) and Nathaniel Parker (Skimpole) for assembling into one of the greatest most repugnant, morally reprehensible group of humans that ever populated a single television or movie production. This, once again, proved that a drama is only as good as its villains! Boy, the television adaption of "Bleak House" went a long ways to prove that. Hats off to this wonderful creative drama.
4 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Terrific adaptation
runamokprods2 October 2012
Smashingly entertaining and very moving 8 hour adaptation of the Dickens's classic, made for the BBC.

Terrific performances in just about every role, with special note given to Gillian Anderson's amazingly complex Lady Dedlock. But Dennis Lawson and Charles Dance are also great, and the supporting cast is full of actors who get Dickens' tone just right; a touch larger and more colorful than life, but always real enough to believe in, care about, be frightened by or pity. I also liked that the young leads were played by actors who really did look young, so their naiveté never comes off as forced or phony.

Beyond that, the photography is beautiful, as is the production and costume design. Full of directorial quirks that make the story feel energetic and modern, without feeling intrusive. The hand held cameras, swish pans, zooms serve to feed the energy of the story. Only towards the end of the series is there a little too much repetition of some of these tricks, causing them to lose some power, and become a touch annoying. But standing against all the strong elements, that's a very small fly in the ointment indeed.
3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
An error has occured. Please try again.

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed