War and Peace [CAUTION: SPOILERS]

[QuizteamBleakley]

Anyone watching? All British actors appearing here...

Is it funny to have spoilers warnings for a novel nearly 150 years old?

Funny but necessary maybe :)

I can't see that lily James has the skills to manage the latter story of Natasha.

Andrew Davies says he hadn't read the novel before adapting it.

oh No, I hate Spoilers

I hate spoilers too.

Mm I saw that - and none of the cast had read it either (the telegraph was aghast!)

So I think we can all safely assume it's not a novel that is actually massively widely read, even by award-winning writers and actors?

That was such a silly story! I did a degree in English. It doesn't mean I've read every book ever just in case I get asked about it! I can imagine actors and directors have to read a lot for work. To expect them to read a massive novel on top of that for leisure is a bit much! They all read it once they got the job!

I love pierre, the deathbed scene was very touching. Really looking forward to watching the rest. I'm quite happy it's not as gloomy as the book.

agree with brand, I really enjoyed it, I don't like Pierre, he's so weak but I think his development is a key part of the story so I'll wait and see. I agree wrt the female characters although the wife that's left to have her baby at her ILs house and dismissed as being histrionic when she knows he does not love her does show some empathy with women?

war & peace regularly tops lists of the best book ever written - I've had a copy unread on my bookshelf for oh about 20+ years now, I'm hoping this might be a primer!

I thought it was good. I haven't read the book btw!

Tolstoy's War & Peace is set in Russia against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars.

The BBC's War & Peace appears to be another generic British costume drama, created to be sold to the Americans.

Not quite the same thing.....

What was going on by the old Bezukhov's bedside? What was the folder the women were fighting over? And how, if Pierre was illegitimate, did he inherit? (I think I must've fallen asleep at some point.)

In the folder was the will leaving it all to Pierre and I think some proof that his father had had him legitimised.

I didn't think they muttered. I read the book 30 years ago and don't remember much apart from Natasha. Think I skim read a lot of the war bits. Lily Whatever the Natasha actress is far too old to play her. They should have had her played by 2 actresses. Surely she wouldn't have been coated in that much make up age 13 in a posh family.
Didn't recognise Greta Scacchi. I wanted to be her in the 80s. She was incredibly beautiful in Heat and Dust. I hope it's just the make up department making her look that dowdy now.

The incest scene was not part of the book - just got added to spice things up ?.?

Re spoliers doesn't everyone know the basic plot of War and Peace? Even if, like me , you've never read it.

I'm impressed by Paul Dano. I think he's a very good actor , albeit a bit creepy.

There is another thread commenting on the dresses- would they have had one shouldered evening dresses?

Rebecca Front and Stephen Rea were excellent, although it is a bit disconcerting spotting so many actors from other recent programmes.

It failed the Bechdel test It wouldn't even occur to me to apply it, but if it bothers you you'd probably best avoid most novels written before the 20th century

So I think we can all safely assume it's not a novel that is actually massively widely read, even by award-winning writers and actors?

I think you can very safely assume that. I've read all of Dickens at least twice, most of Zola, Flaubert, Balzac and Trollope without going anywhere near War and Peace (Anna Karenina on the other hand regularly tops "most irritating character in literature" lists on here)

I've read it at least twice, and two different translations, as has DH. Neither of us has read all of Dickens etc.

Great book, I did skip a lot of the battles the first time. This series can only skim the surface, there is lots more to discover in the novel. I found myself wondering what bits would be cut.

Btw the battle was in Austria where I was on holiday last year, and the other army had been defeated at Ulm in Germany which we also visited, and they're quite a long way apart. Also a very very long way from Moscow etc. The distances are amazing.

I've read it in English and Russian. There are over 500 characters - there's no way that the BBC can do it justice in 6 hours, but I do think that Andrew Davies has captured the flavour well. I'm going to stick with it, even though I agree that Lily thingy is too old to play Natasha - and there is (as always with Davies' adaptations) licence taken with the mores of the time to make a 'better' drama.

I'm on the fence about spoilers. I certainly haven't read W&P, or know anything about the story!
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo have discussed many times on their radio program whether spoilers can be revealed on OLD stories and concluded that new viewers should be given a chance to discover the story (One of their listeners had not known what happens at the end of Titanic (lol)

Mn perhaps we can have a thread per episode, so we can read it after it's been aired?

Panicmode1 I have a question then. During one of the battle scenes the horse gets shot and the rider crawls into the woods. Who were the people in the woods? Austrians? If so how did he speak to them in the book? Does he speak German? (I might be missing the point there).

I think I will watch the first episode again to get a better handle on the characters, I also found them to be mumbling.

It's clearly a gripping story if it's still being reprinted and adapted so long after being written.

I'm not meaning to be a dimwit, I watched with my full attention last night, ( ie not mumsnetting at the same time ) but my specialty areas are computing and electronics - I know little about literature, history or geography.

cheesy I was wondering the same.

Well in the book the Austrian General (?) who announces the defeat in Ulm is speaking French. Russian nobility usually spoke French and some knew no Russian.
But actually the soldiers in the bushes were supposed to be Russians marksmen. The problem is in the book, this is a long passage showing the confusion of war. As once Nickolay Rostov's horse is killed, he is disorientated, not knowing which way is the enemy or his side. He is also in shock realising that the French want to kill him, when he's always been a pampered and loved son. (Maybe it's some of Tolstoy's own experiences coming out.)