Portrait of a Marriage (1992)

Powerful Passions

I remember seeing this series when it first came out in England many years ago. I recently bought the DVD's issued here in the US. Seeing it again, so many years later, did not diminish the effect it had on me. I was quite surprised by this and I think that fact alone says something about the quality of this production. It is really an examination of the conflict between stable family life and the wild passions of youth. Many people might contemplate the kind of marriage/relationship that Vita had, but very few would actually go through with it. There are some very violent scenes so this is not for the faint of heart, and some heartbreaking ones when you see the effect the turmoil is having on her children. It superbly acted by all parties especially the husbands- they are very hard parts to play. Janet McTeer is absolutely perfect as Vita. Many people know of Vita Sackville-West because of her later relationship with Virginia Woolf. But it is vital to understand her first major extramarital affair with Violet to understand the context of her later relationships with other women.
For gardeners out there thinking that this might show Sissinghurst, a word of caution, most of the action takes place while Vita and Harold were creating their Long Barn garden, not Sissinghurst. But there are some divine shots of Sissinghurst (especially the White garden) at the very end. April 26, 2008

frankly speaking

I thoroughly enjoy this movie. In the same genre as "Maurice", "Wilde", and "Tipping the Velvet", this timeless classic is truly rivoting and heartwretching to watch. The age of innocence was a period many seek to keep prime and proper, full of myths on social morality, when in fact, most educated, well travelled and sophisticated people (especially in the Arts)knew that this so-called benign period was the beginning of greater freedom of expression if one only dared challenged societal myths. This film is definitely one fit for the classical library collections, gay or straight. I am sure others customers will be as delighted with this film as I was. Bravo to you Amazon, for your brilliant selection of film! October 10, 2007

PBS Series, Great Drama

If you enjoy period dramas or bios, check this one out..also a true story written by the couple's son, Nigel August 17, 2007

VIOLET AND VITA AND HAROLD AND DENYS

This is a superb BBC production. High production values. It's a TV luxury. Based on Vita's memoire of her love affair with Violet Keppel Trefusis which can be found in Nigel Nicolson's 'Portrait of a Marriage' as well as Violet's letters and Vita's biography, it is intelligently scripted by Penelope Mortimer and acted excellently by a high calibre cast. The drama is gut wrenchingly effective in parts. There is a violent scene between Vita and Violet that made me want to jump into the TV and put an end to it. Of note for me is the acting of Cathryn Harrison especially in the first 2 episodes; she is a perfect Violet awesomely in love with Vita. The blood from Violet's face would drain when she caught sight of Vita; she wanted to give all of herself to Vita. Cathryn transmits this intensity of feeling with great skill - this is marvelous acting (watch for her reactions especially in the love scenes). Peter Birch/Denys Trefusis also has a similar quality. Only David Haig as Harold grates because the direction has him play the part too passively as a kind of neutered man- still we get the point of the dynamics. Janet McTeer is excellent and conveys the idea of Vita's so called dual nature well.

In the final 2 episodes disenchantment sets in as it did in real life and the story ends in Amiens, France (early 1920) in a fevered destructive climax. At the end the sheen has come off all the characters. I no longer cared much about Vita and Harold but was concerned about Violet especially and Denys who are left with a ruined future - we are not told what happened to them and they are not contextualised in the drama. The absence of Violet's powerful and famous mother Alice Keppel is a flaw as she was instrumental in the ending of the affair. The DVD includes a very short note about Vita but nothing about the others.

The post script is that Vita and Violet continued their relationship as far as they could until Spring 1921. Denys Trefusis sought a formal separation which would have brought the whole affair into the public domain (he was penniless and would need alimony I suppose but he was also seething from humiliation). Lawyers and matriarchs came onto the scene and Vita agreed, through lawyers, to give Violet up. Violet became bereft, lost and declassee or ostracised from high society - a great humiliation for her mother (Edward VII's discreet, clever mistress). She was confined and banned from contacting Vita. Violet and Denys eventually reached an agreement and went to live in Paris - the spoiled marriage turned into a fragile companionship funded by Mrs Keppel. Denys introduced the lonely Violet to the high priestess of arts and music, Princess Polignac and that love affair was tolerated because of its discretion. This enabled the brilliantly intelligent Violet (we don't see much of this in the TV series) to become classee in Paris's high society and in Florence where she inherited her parents' villa. She never married again but, after poor Denys died of consumption, she went back to her flirting girlish ways -even as a grande dame in Paris and Florence -and had many a male suitor as she did before she met Vita. Not many in France and Italy knew about her true past. There must have been a buried sadness - she knew that her ideal of love had failed; she lived the artificial facile life, albeit with an ironic eye, she had once so hated and became quite eccentric. But she lived in her beloved France. Her heart was French, she said. She once prophesied that her life would be one of waste. Maybe it was but she gave a lot of pleasure to her many friends. She wrote published books. And I take my hat off to her for getting through it all.

Vita and Harold lived in companionship and never had intimate relations again. Vita continued to have affairs and wrecked a couple of marriages on the way but managed to have an enduring mostly platonic, passionate friendship with Virginia Woolf. There is evidence that Violet and Vita felt the flame again in their middle age but desisted. The friendship was worn down by disappointment - both represented fallen ideals and wasted potential. Harold had his liaisons but they were never grand affairs. Vita became quite reclusive at Sissinghurst and her biography politely implies she may have liked the alcohol a bit too much in older age. She was ambivalent towards her children. She and Harold lived apart most of the time but their affectionate companionship endured to the end and Harold - a man of real substance with a raft of books to his name as does Vita - was left desolate when Vita died in 1962. The beautiful garden at Sissinghurst is the best portrait of their marriage. Violet was the last to leave this earth in 1972 -

"My heart was more disgraceful, more alone
And more courageous than the world has known,
O passer by my heart was like your own."

Shortly after Nigel Nicolson's book was published. London (and Paris and Florence for the 1st time) was aghast all over again. And now, here we are. Buy this DVD. It's honestly one of the best BBC dramas ever. Then, if still interested, buy the biographies by Glendinning and Souhami.
July 25, 2007

Portrait of a Marriage

First saw this on Masterpiece Theater with Alistair Cooke. Excellent autobiography and story of a gay woman poet/writer, Vita Sackville-West, living in the WWI era 1920's and 30's, gay life in Paris! What you did in those days was marry and hide your homosexuality and lesbianism. Sackville-West and her diplomat homosexual husband do just that. But, as women, sex does not come without love as emotions, passions, and trust broil to a fantastic climax. Most intriguing!! Personnel favorite of all time. July 5, 2007

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