Saturday, October 31, 2009

#30 "Daniel Deronda"

Too bad I didn't have a scary movie to watch today, considering it's Halloween. I think the only "scary" movie in my collection is The Ring ... maybe I'll be to the R's by this time next year!

Stats: 2002. Starring Hugh Dancy & Romola Garai. Not Rated. Based on the novel by George Eliot.

Background: I got this as part of the aforementioned George Eliot collection. Other than Silas Marner, which I wanted for my ESL class, this was the movie I was most excited about, simply because it stars Hugh Dancy. My sister and I watched it together at the beginning of the summer … and we soon had a mutual loathing for one of the characters.

Reactions: Words can’t describe just how much I didn’t want to watch this again. My main complaint is that the supposed heroine is completely unlikable. Normally, I root for the hero and heroine to get together and stay together, but not in this case. When Gwendolen married, I cheered, thinking that would end any chance of a relationship between her and Daniel. Not so. So when Daniel finally married the Jewess he saved earlier, I was thrilled!

Watching this for the second time, I actually enjoyed it more than the first. Before, I was worried that Daniel would make the “wrong” choice—after all, Gwendolen is the main female character—but this time, I knew what he would decide, so I could focus on the other plot points!

I do enjoy Hugh Dancy (Daniel), Hugh Bonneville is fantastic as the loathsome Grandcourt, and I like a few of the subplots, but this isn’t a movie I’ll be watching regularly.

Verdict: Keep (in order to keep my whole George Eliot collection together)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...