Aristocrats (1999)

At one point during The Aristocrats, the dutiful, devoted, yet rather dim husband of Louisa Lennox cannot find the word to describe the magnificent party they are attending. "Resplendent," his wife offers. That pretty much describes this impeccably mounted BBC miniseries.

Based on the biography by Stella Tillyard, The Aristocrats vividly re-creates "a different world" that would eventually be shattered by rebellion and bloodshed. "The much pampered" Emily Lennox narrates her family's history, as tumultuous as it was charmed. The Lennox sisters, Caroline (Serena Gordon), Emily (Geraldine Somerville, and as an older woman, Sian Phillips), Louisa (Anne-Marie McDuff), and Sarah (Jodhi May), were of royal blood and they mixed with royalty. Part 1 chronicles elder daughter Caroline's "small rebellion" that tears her family apart. Against her father's wishes ("I would sooner let you sell fish in the street," he thunders), she marries for love Henry Fox, a politician who is 20 years older. Caroline is banished from the house and her sisters' lives. Part 2 charts the misfortunes of sister Sarah, who as a child was a favorite of the king and is later courted, but ultimately rejected, by his heir. She becomes "an inconvenient woman," scandalizing her family with her indiscretions. Part 3 makes the last reel of Gone with the Wind look like Singin' in the Rain as bittersweet reunions, sibling rivalries, death, infidelities, and revolution take their tragic toll.

Originally broadcast on Mobil Masterpiece Theatre, The Aristocrats is presented on video in a three-volume set. Anglophiles will find it difficult not to take in all 246 minutes in a single sitting. But the peerless ensemble and rich production ensures rewarding repeat viewings. --Donald Liebenson Amazon.com

Fantastic

This is a terrific series! The costumes and the actors are exceptional. My husband watched this story with me.
He is someone who loves your typical guy movie like "The Terminator". Trust me, when you can get someone like him watch this kind of series... it means it is a really a good one! August 25, 2008

Aristocrats

After just returning from Ireland for a 3 week driving trip around the entire country, I began researching Lord Edward Fitzgerald on the web, and came across "The Aristocrats" BBC film series. It is about his mother and her sisters, illegitimate descendants of King Charles(?) I think. I absolutly loved it! After reading so much Irish history from the Irish Catholic point of view,seeing the Michael Collins, IRA, statue in Dublin, and touring the political murals in Belfast, it was wonderful to look at the Aristocratic English viewpoint of a real family that led up to this son, Edward, who becomes a supporter of the Irish agaisnt the English. He has an English Aristocratic mother and an Irish wealthy Father, and is raised in Ireland. He has a "free thinking" tutor that marries his mother after the father dies.
Good love stories and good history, all in one. My Irish friend watched it and loved it, too! July 20, 2008

Intriguing...Yet utlimately Dull

I thoroughly enjoy a good Period epic- and at the beginning I was very much intrigued by the premise of these Aristocratic sisters, yet the actors themselves quickly began to bore me. The dialogue became a bit tired- and most importantly you don't really develop much of a sense of connection with the main character Emily- She is narrating- and you do get to find out more of what she thinks and feels- but I was still bored with her. I struggled to care about what was going to happen next- it always seemed as if the sisters and their husbands were always trying to out do each other- maybe with the exception of Louisa and her husband. I know that is supposed to be the creator of the tension- but it ends up just becoming tedious. Also I felt that casting Alun Armstrong as Mr.Fox was totally odd. It's hard to imagine that a woman like Caroline would be taken with interest when seeing him the first time. I'm sorry- couldn't they have cast a better looking actor?? It does explain the way his and Caroline's children turn out. They are even more hideous than he is- although I don't know whether the casting director had that direct intent when he cast them as their children. But- apart from that qualm about casting-it really could have been a good film- it had beautiful costumes and settings and an air of authenticity- yet it never really picks up. It really comes back to the lack of good characters. They are just too one dimensional to really care about them. I agree with another of the reviewers that it is worth renting- but it is one of those series that I really don't care to ever see again now that I have seen it once. April 23, 2008

If you like historical drama, you should watch

Not 100% perfect, but still awesome. Anne Marie Duff from Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen plays one of the sisters. It's hard to sit down and watch just one episode. I highly recommend. February 19, 2008

Resplendent

"Caroline is clever, Emily is a mother to me, Louisa is an angel and Cecilia is a child. I am a disappointment."

That line (uttered by Sarah Lennox) sums up the tumultuous "Aristocrats," a sumptuous, glittering miniseries about the famous and/or infamous Lennox sisters, who were the great-granddaughters of Charles II and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille. Solid acting and a wonderfully soapy storyline make this a great historical drama, but it spins way out there in the last episode.

The Lennox family splinters when the eldest daughter, Caroline (Serena Gordon) falls in love with an older, ambitious politician, Mr. Fox -- and scandalously elopes with him. Emily (Geraldine Somerville) takes a different approach when she falls for the lusty Lord Kildare (Ben Daniels), and eventually her parents agree. They marry, have seemingly dozens of kids, and are happy despite Kildare's frequent infidelity.

But then Lord and Lady Richmond die, leaving their next three daughters Louisa, Sarah and Cecilia in Emily's care. Louisa (Anne-Marie Duff) gets happily married to a dim, loving husband. But when Sarah (Jodhi May) catches the eye of the timid Prince of Wales, the Foxes desperately maneuver to make her the next queen -- which naturally destroys her chances.

So she marries a very cold, inattentive man, and soon starts gambling, has an affair with a sexy Frenchman -- and elopes with a volatile Harlequin hunk, after having his illegitimate baby. As the family struggles with her disgrace and the brewing war in America, they face new losses and new scandals... and in the years that follow, the family is again thrown into turmoil when Emily's fiery son becomes involved in an Irish revolution...

"The Aristocrats" is kind of like a soap opera from the 1700s -- and it's even juicier when you consider that this stuff happened for real. Multiple adulterous affairs, deaths, feuds, scandals, revolutions, elopements, illegitimate babies, and a king dropping dead on the toilet. And it all more or less happens to one family, over the course of a generation.

And the adaptation wraps the entire era in lush sets and costumes -- big billowing dresses, powdered wigs, sumptuous furniture, opulent mansions, crumbly castles, and the prettily overgrown greenery of their gardens. Frankly, you could get drunk on the scenery alone in this miniseries. David Caffrey does an excellent job soaking the atmosphere into the scenes, whether it's the poignant loneliness of Sarah's "exile," or the sexy interludes between the women and their lovers/husbands.

Problem? The last episode shoots us forward twenty-plus years, and the focus shifts from the remaining sisters to Emily's son Edward, and the "serious" storyline rushes by way too fast. It's not bad, but it feels like an entirely different story was tacked on at the last minute, with all different actors and a totally different focus and "feel."

The actors are good all around: Somerville's brittle yet loving Caroline, Gordon's dutiful yet slightly wicked Emily, and Duff adding a bit of sorrow into the ever-good Louisa. May gives the most astounding performance -- she puts real desperation and sorrow into Sarah's rapid downward slide, and her genuine desire to do the right thing. Lots of frustration, anger, sorrow and finally love in there -- it's simply brilliant.

But the other actors put in good performances too -- Daniels does a great job showing how Kildare loves his wife even if he isn't faithful, and his final scene with Gordon is heartbreaking. George Anton is charming, Alun Armstrong is abrasively interesting, and Tom Mullion is cute in a dim way.

"The Aristocrats" is a solid, sumptuous costume drama with a befuddling final act, but some brilliant acting and direction carry it on through. Sexy, dignified and -- at one time -- scandalous. January 31, 2008

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