THE BARCHESTER CHRONICLES (1984)



THE BARCHESTER CHRONICLES video artwork


DONALD PLEASENCE.....Reverend Septimus Harding
GERALDINE McEWAN.....Mrs. Proudie
NIGEL HAWTHORNE.....Dr. Grantly
SUSAN HAMPSHIRE.....La Signora Madeline Versey Neroni
ALAN RICKMAN.....Reverend Obadiah Slope

Directed by DAVID GILES
Written by ALAN PLATER
Produced by JONATHAN POWELL


REVIEW BY CATHLEEN SCHINE


Every character in Trollope's novels The Warden and Barchester Towers thinks himself right, if he thinks at all. Trollope the narrator knows better, knows they're all a little off, but values them none the less for that. In Barchester Chronicles, PBS's new series based on the novels, this ambivalence toward the ladies and clerical gentlemen vying for power in the cathedral city of Barchester does not exist. On television, the hero, Mr. Harding, warden of a home for the poor, wanders about in the gaseous despair caused by a truly Christian heart: he is so utterly good he can barely breathe for the sanctified fumes surrounding him. Donald Pleasence makes his soft voice tremble, as if he were always on the verge of tears, pausing portentously between words of the most homely sentences. "May I travel with you?" Mr. Harding's daughter asks as they prepare to leave a party. "You always (pause) travel (pause, tremble) with me, my (pause) dear...." Lighten up, Dad, you know what I mean? I imagine this moist hesitation is meant to convey the good Warden's modesty. But such an affected performance reduces poor Mr. Harding to a humorless, self-righteous old bore.

Mr. Harding's right to his comfortable church living has been challenged by reformers, and his staunchest ally in the ensuing battle is his severe and defiantly conservative son-in-law, the Archdeacon, Dr. Grantly. Narrowing his eyes and strutting about on stove-pipe legs, Nigel Hawthorne plays Dr. Grantly as a sputtering clerical clown, his outraged chin wagging violently above his stiff white collar. He has not the slightest shred of dignity and seems to have escaped from a vaudeville stage.

Susan Hampshire is the only performer in Barchester Chronicles able to maintain the delicate Trollopian balance of charm and malice. As Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni, a heartless crippled enchantress, Hampshire is so lovely, her voice so innocent and clear, her smile so open and bright, that we can't help but feel tenderly toward the "lame lady," even as we watch her coldly bring men to their knees and to their ruin. Susan Hampshire holds out her pretty hand to be kissed, smiles shyly and boldly eyes her vicitm: she is a perfect Trollope character, someone to be feared, to be pitied, to be exasperated by, and to be admired.

Barchester Chronicles gets better as it progresses, partly because the complicated plot is irresestible, partly because there's more and more Susan Hampshire. But for the most part, Barchester Chronicles is a victim of the easy understanding of Trollope that has devalued him for so long. The series is both more serious and less serious than the novels it is based on; its humor too broad, its ideas too earnest.



Review from the November 1984 issue of VOGUE.

Review © 1984 VOGUE. All Rights Reserved.

Video artwork courtesy of Karen Rappaport

Video artwork is the property of BBC HOME VIDEO. All Rights Reserved.

Title and logo designed by Karen Rappaport




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