This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Brand: Warner Brothers EAN: 9780790766126 Format: Closed-captioned, Subtitled, NTSC ISBN: 0790766124 Label: BBC Video Manufacturer: BBC Video Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: BBC Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 30, 2002 Running Time: 300 minutes Studio: BBC Video Theatrical Release Date: 2001 Sales Rank: 20391 MPN: WARDE1620D
Video Description: The Way We Live Now captures the turmoil as the old order is swept aside by the brash new forces of business and finance. Based on the novel by Anthony Trollope, this satire of Victorian society contains all the dynamic elements that made him one of the most celebrated and popular novelists of his day--the trials and tribulations of young love, the pettiness of the upper class life, the raw energy and excitement of the most powerful city the world had ever seen, and the greed and corruption that lay just below its glittering surface.
Episode 1: When infamous financier Augustus Melmotte (David Suchet) mysteriously appears in London, the city's impoverished aristocrats greedily court his favor. Felix Carbury, a charming but lazy young baronet, is one of the many gentlemen swarming around Melmotte's rich heiress daughter, Marie. Meanwhile, Felix's independently minded sister, Hetta, falls in love with a bright young engineer, Paul Montague, who is in town to approach Melmotte with an ambitious business propostion. Complications soon arise in business and love.
Episode 2: While Paul Montague throws himself into the booming railway business with Melmotte, the presence of his mysterious American friend in London threatens to jeopardize his chances with Hetta. Felix is forced to desperate measures to secure his future with Marie when he learns that her father is planning her marriage to a rival suitor.
Episode 3: Paul visits Mexico to have his worst fears about the railway construction confirmed. Returning to London he decides to confront Melmotte and resolve his romantic situation. Melmotte involves himself in increasingly ambitious business schemes while Felix gets himself into further trouble and Hetta recieves some devastating news.
Episode 4: Melmotte reaches the highest echelons of London society but the wolves are beginning to gather at his door. Paul takes his chance to act and Felix comes face to face with some tough opposition, while Hetta contemplates settling for second best. Climaxing in love lost, love gained, a death and some just desserts.
Amazon.com: First screened on BBC in 2001, The Way We Live Now will surprise those who know Anthony Trollope through the subtleties of his Barsetshire novels. This story of ambition centers around Augustus Melmotte, an Austrian Jewish financier who takes the London money markets and social scene by storm in his efforts to become an "English country gentleman." His rise and fall is followed with remorseless logic by Trollope, and David Yates's direction keeps this in focus against a wealth of subplots and character interaction.
The cast is a strong one, with David Suchet's Melmotte gripping in his recklessness, climaxing in the theatrical magnificence of his departure in disgrace from the House of Commons. Shirley Henderson is magnetic as his put-upon daughter Marie, courted by the cream-of-society bachelors for her dowry rather than her person. Cheryl Campbell gives a good account of the feckless Lady Carbury, writing vacuous novels to support her family, with Matthew MacFadyen relishing the part of her rakish son, Felix. Paloma Baeza is sympathetic as her daughter, Hetta, whose on-off relationship with entrepreneur Paul Montague, ably taken by Cillian Murphy, provides the main love interest. Douglas Hodge impresses as the loyal and sincere but insipid Roger Carbury.
The series consists of four generous episodes, each lasting 75 minutes. This is an absorbing production of what isn't the most subtle of Victorian novels, but which surely remains among the most relevant. --Richard Whitehouse
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - No
I thought this would be really good but it is not for my taste I really like 1800 movies and this is not up to it.
Rating: - Those who speculate risk winning....or losing it all
David Suchet is a dastardly swindler with magnetic voice and convincing speeches... he will draw you into this film and keeps you there. This delightful film is rife with humor and a little bit of romance, ... Read More
Rating: - Don't Buy This DVD!
The promo's for this DVD are very deceiving! It makes it seem like this movie is so romantic and intriging! It is not!! It was a real frustrating movie to watch. If you know any thing about Anthony Trollope ... Read More
Rating: - The Cash Nexus
I believe it was Freud who said that the two great motivators in human affairs are money and sex. But the only motivator that is on display in Anthony Trollope's THE WAY WE LIVE NOW is money. Ok, that is not ... Read More
Rating: - Fabulous!
This is an excellent production. The acting by both Matthew McFadden and David Suchet along with a brilliant supporting cast is amazing and a joy to behold. The movie is full of laughs but also a bit unnerving ... Read More
- No
- Don't Buy This DVD!
- The Cash Nexus