Donald PLEASENCE gives perhaps the best tv performance ever as the essentially good Septimus Harding. Despite the oft repeated Hollywood claim that the devil has all the best tunes, PLEASENCE manages to make a good person interesting. A 'good man adrift among sinners'; a 'true Christian'; & a 'man suffering from persistent bouts of Christianity'.
The other actors (Geraldine McEWAN [imperious] & Alan RICKMAN [supremely oleaginous], in particular) show quite clearly that evil is as not as glamorous nor as rewarding as it is usually cracked up to be – and you despise them both, unconditionally, for it. This is subtle and brilliant stuff, very much in keeping with the spirit of Anthony TROLLOPE's first two Barchester novels: The Warden & Barchester Towers.
Not a single false note is detectable here in this satire on morality, religion and the law. The zeal to be ethically correct conflicts with important personal relationships from which much of the drama springs. Nigel HAWTHORNE is especially excellent as the hysterically amusing archdeacon who has a constant struggle to rein in his open dislike of anyone who criticizes him – alternately fuming and then expressing Christian pieties with relish. Everyone is good here, in fact, and more special mention should be made of Janet MAW as the perfect incarnation of Harding's morally scrupulous and high minded daughter.
This is a world-weary critique of the worldly ambition that is nothing more than an absence of genuine ability. The plot and style are reminiscent of Dickens, but with less over the top characterization and profounder insights into human nature. The only real disappointment here is that the BBC did not opt to go the whole hog and adapt every one of Trollope's Barchester novels.
Copyright © 2009 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
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