SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Bob Taylor The BBC miniseries issued on DVD have been sustaining me this winter. I found this one at my public library; it had been eluding me for many years. I am a fan of Janet McTeer and Cathryn Harrison, and found the account of the love affair between Vita Sackville-West and Violet Trefusis to be fairly engrossing, although overlong (at almost four hours). The problem is that these people are only moderately interesting--we remember Vita, if we remember her at all, as a character from Virginia Woolf's Orlando, while Harold is known as the author of diaries from the 1930's in which he recounts his experiences with Oswald Mosley and other famous people. Harold and Vita are bit-players on the stage of Europe between the wars, not principal players.I was entertained by the two female leads, who were brought to life successfully by Penelope Mortimer's screenplay. Cathryn Harrison was especially vivid in her portrayal of the more emotional and headstrong Violet. David Haig was excellent as the repellent Harold, a man who has his cake and wants to eat it too (in other words, have Vita as his wife and enjoy men on the side). Peter Birch as Trefusis was no more interesting than an illustration on the cover of a biscuit tin.

erla-4 I have neither read the book on which the movie is based, nor the letters between Vita and Violet. If I came to this movie with any expectations whatsoever, it was maybe that the Bloomsbury group (including among others Virginia Woolf, and which the Nicolsons were part of) would be depicted. It wasn't, which however wasn't a problem for me. What I am wondering about is how the people behind this movie managed to make it, in my opinion, so very uninteresting and repetitive and most of the characters flat, in spite of great material and some very good actors. The script is simply not good enough. I agree with the criticism of my Finnish neighbor - too many pointless sex scenes (but only between the women, while there is nothing explicit whatsoever concerning Harold's numerous love affairs), too many pointless scenes in general, too little information about the background of characters. It seems odd considering the quality of the production - on the surface it seems a really ambitious piece of work, but the script holds of course the most weight and that is where this movie fails.Vita's relationship with Harold struck me as unconvincing, although both of them act really well, especially her. The way they kept declaring their unconditional love for each other in a rather sappy manner I thought, well, simply unconvincing. It makes a lot more sense that it should have happened through letters, as tmmvds points out I would also have liked to know where the nicknames came from - the Russian ones* as well as Mar - why ever is someone called Vita given the nickname Mar? It might be small stuff, but it matters in contributing to the bigger picture.*I watched the movie with English subtitles on, and where it should apparently have said Mitya, it said instead Medea. That might explain my frustration with the nicknames to some extent - I could not understand why Vita's should be Greek while Violet's was Russian!

melaniecurtis This excellent television drama was only shown once so this release is very welcome. Watching this again in 2007 made me realise what a rare thing it is. It's actually quite brave and I can't remember seeing anything like it before or since it was shown. It's very well scripted and acted and it's extraordinary in terms of television drama. The other posts here give a good sense of the content. I just wanted to respond to the message of 7 November 2006.While I agree with the author's points about the the depiction of Violet Trefusis, this drama is based mainly on Nigel Nicolson's book which includes Vita's own memoir and it draws from Glendinning's biography of Vita as well as Harold's, Vita's and Violet's letters. Vita and Harold are in fuller view than Violet. For instance, we see them in the context of their immediate families but Violet is not contextualised. As far as I know, the producers took a hard decision not to complicate the story by adding more characters but, on the other hand, they concentrate on the affair with Violet and much of the rest of Nicolson's book is dumped. I do agree that Violet could have been drawn better (she fought hard at great cost for Vita) and I do feel that the exclusion of Violet's powerful mother, Alice Keppel (an Edwardian superstar) was a mistake. Nevertheless, the drama does an excellent job of bringing the main protagonists to life.Of course there is some taking of dramatic licence but not to the detriment of the almost Gothic story. The story is true to the sources and much dialogue is taken from the letters. Yes, there are sex scenes but I wouldn't say too many. Both Vita's and Violet's records testify to the physical side of their relationship and, after all, this was one of the drivers for their attempts to get out of the UK.As a result of my own viewing of the DVD, I felt compelled to find out more about Violet because I found her the most intriguing character -because of the absence of information. The drama does not tell us what happened next, we only see Vita and Harold going safely home. Anyone who is interested in Violet can find books available on Amazon - her life story makes for a compelling read (see Diana Souhami's biography); there are excellent books too on Vita and Harold (and all were authors in their own rights). Only Denys's story has yet to be told in any detail.

northcdn This was such a good mini-series that it surprises me that it's never been on again!Based on the biography by Nigel Nicolson, it tells the true story of the marriage of his parents, Harold Nicolson and the author Vita Sackville-West, who carried on a long-term passionate love affair with Violet Keppel Trefusis. It is an absolutely convincing portrayal of a marriage that, although between two people who found most of their sexual release in homosexual contacts, was a loving partnership that far surpassed many conventional marriages. Janet McTeer is, of course, amazing and the scene between her and Cathryn Harrison (who plays Violet) when their relationship dissolves due to Violet's impending marriage is heart-breaking.Well worth watching - a very interesting story of an unconventional relationship. Now if only they would show it again!