Evengyny
Thanks for the memories!
Nonureva
Really Surprised!
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Olga Klimenko
Powerful, brilliant, captivating adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's masterpiece. The casting is perfect. Each and every actor is where he/she is meant to be. The atmosphere, the spirit are delivered perfectly.Richard Armitage....well, there's no need to say anything. He is The One and Only Mr.Thornton ever :) He seems to step down from the pages of the novel.Daniela Danby-Ashe as Margaret is so breathtakingly beautiful, you can't take your eyes off her luminous face as if chiselled of marble. But her play even more so betters her beauty.And - by the way - the music is outstanding! Enchanting and beautiful, very genuinely creating the atmosphere. The only flaw of the film is that they - for some reason - cut out few of the most crucial dialogs/lines between the leading characters. Well, they are not cut out entirely, but thoroughly changed, and, though are pretty fine in their own merit, would be much better for them to be the exact quotations from the novel. For example the scene of the first proposal and the final scene of reaching the understanding between John Thornton and Margaret. These scenes were made wonderfully....but - if the film-makers followed exactly the dialogs as they were put in the book (especially Thornton's lines and expressive manner) - it would be by far more perfect and breathtaking than it already is. So, my vote "9", not "10" - for these little but crucial (from my point of view) alterations from the original dialogs of the book.
mazinman-1
As a fan of Pride and Prejudice I love these old British tales from Victorian England such as Jane Austen and Eliz Caskell. I kind of stumbled into North and South and was floored on how well it is done. The BBC takes enormous pains to develop each character to a fine depth and endearment and fleshes out all the nuances. The subdued feelings and manners of the time and the repressed and polite discourse; then it is finessed into a wonderful emotional crescendo at the end.I was hysterically crying when my WIFE walked in after binge watching all four hours on Netflix. How wonderful it is done! And I thought P&P was the benchmark! No longer.Yes, I went to USC Film School and worked in the film industry for awhile but that did nothing to suspend my thoughts of today and be swept back to 1845 England. Both lead actors do superb jobs in their roles and the technical aspects of a mill town of the Industrial Revolution is well crafted and adeptly displayed. Job well done BBC!
Ioana P
I enjoyed North & South because of a few things: the beautiful setting and cinematography and the fact that the characters are so believable! The actors are very good and Richard Armitage is fantastic! He is handsome, charming, he has that kind of authority that makes for a great leading male-role. Daniela Denby-Ashe is also worthy of her role, I like her modest, soft beauty, it goes so well with the century portrayed and her role, just perfect.I applaud the makers of this film, it is worth watching and enjoyable. If I am however to comment on something North & South is very much lacking... it is suspense. You just know from the beginning that Margaret is going to end up with Thornton, the whole thing is just postponing THE moment when they declare their love for one another. I would have expected a more intricate design. Too straightforward, you know where it is heading and once it takes you there there is no wow-moment.
Ronnie Red
Margaret Hale, daughter of a priest Richard Hale migrates along with her family from the simple, dull and old fashioned lifestyle to an industrial town Milton. Miss hale with her simple and humanitarian doctrines finds constantly hard to cope with the modern society. The plot here is taken of 18th century Victorian Era. With the prejudice of insipid and rigorous Industrial Revolution, where the means of production are only in the hands of a few people Margaret meets the townspeople. Here she meets the exploited laborers and their owners Mr. Thornton specially, an obdurate and callous aristocrat. Margaret with her unyielding resolutions quickly develops contempt for industrialist town Milton but in the end finds that preconceptions often mislead.Contrary to Auterism, in case of Adaptions we know it's the screenplay which shines out. The difficulty about good adaption is that the characters are predefined so there is not much room for improvisations. As for this it is an excellent adaption, one who has read thoroughly the Victorian era knows that plot executed is exactly reminiscent of the 18th century. Elizabeth Gaskell who published this in 1855, her work mostly deals with social novels. The characters and dialect is simple and efficient. Unitarianism urges comprehension and tolerance toward all religions and, even though Gaskell tried to keep her own beliefs hidden (being a Unitarian), she felt strongly about these values, which permeated her works—as in North and South, where "Margaret the Churchwoman, her father the Dissenter, Higgins the Infidel, knelt down together. It did them no harm." Much credit to the cast for their exquisite performances, especially Daniela (Hale),Richard (Thornton) but Sinead Cosack (Mrs. Thornton) and Brendan Coyle (Mr. Higgins) steals the show. Brendan who is nominated currently for Primetime Emmy for best supporting actor in Downtown abbey lives up to your expectations. He finely portrays Mr. Higgins, union leader, as a proud, honest, egoistic man working for the better of the society and his family. Whereas Mrs. Thornton much attached to his only son Thornton, constantly supporting him morally is finely depicted by Cosack. A great mixture of history, drama and romance, North & South (2004) is a winner in every sense.
