Far From the Madding Crowd and other upcoming films!

Far From The Madding Crowd will be released May 1, 2015 and promises to be one of the best Period Dramas of 2015. It stars Carey Mulligan (Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby), Michael Sheen (The Queen, Masters of Sex) and from what I can tell, Carey Mulligan does her own singing. While I am waiting for this one, I may reread the Far From The Madding Crowd, the sad tale of Bathsheba Everdene by Thomas Hardy. Or perhaps see one of the film versions, either Julie Christie's from 1967 or the newer Paloma Baeza version from 1998. All are well worth revisiting.




There are a few films which should have been in wide release by now which are being held up in distribution. I am not amused!

Effie Gray, which stars Dakota Fanning, Greg Wise and Emma Thompson was released to mixed reviews in the fall in the UK but is supposedly making it across the pond on April 3, 2015. It concerns the odd relationship between artist John Ruskin and his teenage bride. Fingers crossed! I love Emma Thompson and she wrote this one so I still have fairly high hopes.

A Little Chaos has fared a bit better with reviewers, and yet has still had it's released pushed back to April 17, 2015. I hope they mean in North America, not just in the UK. Directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci and Rickman himself (not to mention newcomer Matthias Shoenaerts from Far From the Madding Crowd), it is an unlikely tale of two landscape gardeners competing to design a fountain at Versailles for Louis XIV.

And if you can wait until fall of 2015, Suffragette is about the early feminists fighting for equal voting rights in Edwardian England. This one is star studded, with Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst and Carey Mulligan (I love her!), Helena Bonham Carter and Anne-Marie Duff as some of the suffragettes. My readers will know that this is a topic which I think deserves more attention. Some of my post links are below:

http://janeaustenfilmclub.blogspot.ca/2013/05/suffragettes-in-film-deeds-not-words.html
http://janeaustenfilmclub.blogspot.ca/2011/02/mary-poppins-and-suffragettes.html
http://janeaustenfilmclub.blogspot.ca/2013/05/iron-jawed-angels-american-suffragettes.html

So it would appear that 2015 will be a wonderful year for Period Drama! And now if only some film maker would take on a Georgette Heyer adaptation. Fingers crossed!

Cheers!

Kate Winslet- Actor of the Week

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet has done so many period pieces she has been nicknamed Corset Kate! And thank goodness she has. Here are a few of the wonderful films she has done in the period genre (and perhaps one modern era film).

Kate Winslet, Sense and Sensibility 1995

Was there ever an actress who inhabited a role like Kate did with Marianne Dashwood?

Marianne: Can he love her? Can the soul be really be satisfied with such polite affections? To love is to burn - to be on fire, like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise...

Kate Winslet as Ophelia in Hamlet 1996

As the tragic, vulnerable, mad Ophelia in Kenneth Branaugh's Hamlet. Remarkable!

Kate Winslet as Rose in Titanic 1997

As the young Rose Dewitt Bukater in Titanic, she had her true breakout role, for which she will be forever known. I love that outfit by the way!

Rose: You know, my dream has always been to run away and become an artist, Living in a garret poor but free!
Jack: You wouldn't last 2 days. There's no hot water and hardly any caviar.

Kate Winslet as Maddy LeClerc in Quills 2000

I really hated Quills, for the subject matter not for the acting. I don't think I will ever watch this again. But there she is, gorgeously corseted as usual.

Kate Winslet as Young Iris Murdoch in Iris 2001

As the young novelist Iris Murdoch, played opposite Hugh Bonneville as her husband John Bayley, she had a really meaty role and was a little less glamorous than some of her other roles.

Kate Winslet as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in Finding Neverland 2004

Finding Neverland is a gem of a film. We tend to forget just how wonderful, so if you haven't seen this one in a while, you may want to revisit it. Just bring a big box of Kleenex!

Michael Llewelyn Davies: [about J.M. Barrie] Can we have him for supper?
Sylvia Llewelyn Davies: Have him to stay for supper, Michael. We're not cannibals.

Kate Winslet as Iris Simkins in The Holiday 2006

Alright, I know The Holiday isn't a period piece, but this is my blog and this is one of my favourite films, so there! I just love it, especially this time of year.

Iris: [to Jasper] I don't know, but I think what I've got is something slightly resembling... GUMPTION!

   

Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz in The Reader 2008

Kate won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as the intense Hanna Schmitz in The Reader.  Again, the film is fantastic, but I am not in a great hurry to see it again. I just like my films a little happier, I suppose.

Kate Winslet as April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road 2008

I never saw Revolutionary Road. The trailers didn't look appealing, much as I adore Kate and Leo. Anyone want to give me their take on whether or not it's worth seeing?
N.B. Jule left a comment below saying that Revolutionary Road is fabulous, so now I can't wait to see Kate and Leo in this one. Thanks Jule!

Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce 2011

Showing again how talented she is, Kate totally rocked as Mildred Pierce. A little more severe looking here, she demonstrates her amazing versatility.

Kate Winslet as a young girl

And I couldn't resist this adorable shot of Kate as a youngster. Who knew then how much the world would come to adore this ballsy actress. I for one, can't wait to see what she does in the future.

Mildred Pierce (2011) - Tearjerking Melodrama or just Bad Parenting? Guest Blog Entry by Big Sister

Mildred Pierce 2011 HBO series starring Kate Winslet

5 part HBO Miniseries starring Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood;  written and directed by Todd Haynes

Hey, everyone, this is Jenny's Big Sister writing - I was asked by Jenny to cover this "period drama" not because of any special expertise or fondness for this material, but because she doesn't have HBO at her house and I do.  Not that I mind being asked my opinion (I can usually be counted on to give my opinion quite freely) - so I set up the DVR for last Sunday night.  However, family schedules being what they are (my kids and I have a standing Sunday night date to watch "The Amazing Race"), I didn't get to watch it until Tuesday evening.  And even then, I ended up watching it immediately following an episode of "Supernanny" ... which was more pertinent than I could have imagined!  So here goes ...

Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce

“Mildred Pierce” is based on the Depression-era novel by James M. Cain (written in 1941).  It was made into a classic film melodrama  in 1945 starring Joan Crawford, but has not been presented since then.  When Todd Haynes, the director of the HBO production, read the original James M. Cain novel, he realized that the themes of economic hard times and class would be of relevance in today’s economic reality.  The original film version was made in the time of the Production Code (Hay’s Code) which governed morality in film from 1934 – the early 1960’s;  thus, the 1945 version was structured more like a traditional murder mystery/film noir with less of an emphasis on the sexuality.  In the current version it’s very “HBO” – so send the kids to bed and hunker down for the no-holds-barred version of Mildred Pierce!  

Poster for the original 1945 version of Mildred Pierce starring Joan Crawford

(Before I go any farther, I have a confession:  I haven't read the novel, and I haven't seen the classic Joan Crawford film.  Which, considering that I was an English Literature major with a minor in Cinema Studies is fairly shameful ... however, I did watch these episodes, so that's what I'll talk about.  And living in Toronto, Canada we even had a restaurant here called Mildred Pierce - haven't been there either!  Clearly I have some catching up to do ... )

Kate Winslet as Mildred waitressing

1931.  Glendale, California.  Kate Winslet plays the title character, Mildred Pierce, whose unemployed husband Bert (Bryan F. O'Byrne) is cheating on her.  In the first scene, we see the end of their marriage when she reveals that she’s well aware of his mistress and throws him out of the house.  This leaves her with two daughters to provide for in the early years of the Great Depression.  Mildred is determined that her two daughters don’t suffer the economic effects of the Depression, and sets to work – first, baking pies and cakes; then, working as a waitress, and finally opening her own restaurant.  I found myself admiring Mildred’s drive and business acumen, but at the same time I wanted to shake her for not keeping a tighter rein on her daughter, Veda (played as a young girl by Morgan Turner).  As Mildred begins to find her way as a single mother (or “grass widow” as her neighbour Helen (Melissa Leo) puts it – and I had to look up a definition of that term ... basically, a loose woman who receives the company of different men), and breadwinner.  This challenge of providing for herself and her daughters really puts Mildred’s idea of herself and her middle class existence to the test.  At first, she sees herself as being “above” certain types of work, but eventually she has to swallow her pride in order to make a living during tough economic times.  However, she apparently has instilled in her daughters (especially Veda) a real sense of class hierarchy which, in Veda, comes off as nasty brattiness - hence, the Supernanny reference from earlier on.  I kept wishing that Mildred (or Supernanny!) would just put Veda on the "naughty chair" and regain control of the situation.  Since this is the driver of the (melo)drama, however, we are forced to watch the results of poor parenting on a "bad seed" child!  Yikes!

Guy Pearce as Monty Beregon

This notion of class is one that is often explored in British historical dramas (even not-so-historical dramas), but is seldom addressed as vividly in American dramas as it is portrayed in Mildred Pierce.  Because I don’t want to give too much away with spoilers, I’ll just say that – in typical melodramatic fashion – the sensuality that Mildred explores through her actions in Episode 2 when she takes up with the playboy Monty Beregon (Guy Pearce), is punished through tragedy before the end of the episode.

Evan Rachael Wood as the adult Veda

In the later episodes, the adult Veda will be portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood - I can't wait to see the fireworks between her and Kate Winslet as Veda and Mildred work out their very dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship.  Happy viewing, everyone.