Vanity Fair

[JaneJeffer]

I'm finding Rebecca annoying. I haven't read the book so have no idea if she's meant to be.

The book is witty and quirky and they are doing that well. But the bland, blond Dobbin is all wrong.

Although the 1997 BBC adaptation was superior (Philip Glenister was perfect as Dobbin) I am enjoying this version as it is so different. The quality is not so great, but it is fun.

I think the trend for adding modern music in period drama started with the film Marie Antoinette. I quite the like the contrast between old and new.

I was so looking forward to this but gave up after 10 minutes. It's dire. I'm gutted.

I’ve shamefully never read the book, so am enjoying the show as trashy fun. I’ll definitely pick it up when the series is over.

I agree that it looks quite cheap at times. There was a street scene where the shopfronts just looked painted on. It’s a bit Acorn Antiques.

I’m really liking it. Read the book a few 40 years ago & will download to refresh my memory as to how it should be. But I agree BBC is so much better atvperiod drama.

I was quite liking it, but I haven't read the book or seen any other adaptations. Since reading everybody's comments on here I have stopped watching and have ordered the dvd of the BBC version.

The book is free to download on Amazon. Just got it on my kindle.

It's a bit Acorn Antiques
Dingdong now I will be bitterly disappointed if we don’t have Julie Walters reprising the character of Mrs O playing the part of Mrs Firkin.

I've been housebound this weekend so used the opportunity to rewatch the Andrew Davies version, and it's just as glorious as I remember. Even the heavy brass music is perfect.

The tv portrayal of Lord Steyne is utterly repellent and rather thuggish, so am apprehensive as to how Antony Head will measure against this.

Will continue to watch the ITV version as I do like a good hate-watch!

Several times during tonight's episode I forgot I was watching Vanity Fair.

I'm really not enjoying Frances de La Tour's Matilda Crawley at all. However, one piece of casting I do like is George Osborne's father. I'm also disappointed that Miss Schwartz was not dripping in enough diamonds the size of gull's eggs.

That's tonight's observations. I look forward to everyone else's!

HAHAHAHA at Acorn Antiques! Duncan Preston might pop up as Lady Bareacres.

Becky not nearly upset enough after rejecting Sir Pitt's proposal. We got a single ambiguous but tasteful tear down the cheek. Would have preferred to see some real and rare for her genuine tears. Opportunity missed again for the audience to see what her motives really are.

Good hats.

Dodgy Acorn Antiques (still totally loving that observation) CGI in the carriage scene.

Poor old Amelia scrubbing away on her knees. Oh the humanity!

Did feel properly sad for poor old Dobs left standing in the rain on the church steps. Liked the little interaction between him and Becky at the end. Clever to put that in, noting that the two characters see each other clearly, while everyone else is oblivious.

Oh Christ. 10 minutes in and already we’ve got hamfisted race relations (Amelia apologising to the Sedleys’ manservant for Miss Crawley’s remarks) and Rawdon being transformed from a bluff idiot to an arch deployed of irony (“but you hate that type of snobbery” to Miss Crawley when she shows disdain for ‘the middling sort’).

Then we see Miss Crawley crying and being comforted like a child by Becky. As if! She’s a snobbish old hypocrite and Becky is not supposed to be kind and sympathetic. Can it get any worse?

Arch DEPLOYER. Flipping auto correct.

Felicity Montagu wasted as Miss Briggs. Matthew Baynton wasted as Bute.

watched a bit last night out of curiousity. Strikes me as more like Carry On Vanity Fair. All the subtlety of the book reduced to broad brush strokes. And, however bad the situation, Amelia would never have scrubbed the floor. The appalling Reece Witherspoon 'adaptation' had her digging potatoes!
It's like a cartoon, with very short scenes - man shown struggling with bills, wife falls downstairs, man smiles. The point of a bloody big book is the nuances. This just strips everything away to stupidity.

I think it's a load of light hearted froth, I haven't read the book though, shall do when the series has finished. I'm watching it for the hats.

The carriage ride was dreadful CGI. It’s 2018. Even a cheap production should be able to look decent. I notice lots of the outdoor London scenes are in the same square too. I’m guessing it was filmed in a short space of time.

Still enjoying it as silly fun though.

I’m still watching but so disappointed 😒. They’ve smoothed the edges off Becky’s character so as to make her almost unrecognisable from the book - she’s far too sympathetic and is showing far too much genuine emotion.

I’m the book I got the impression that she is always in control and everything is calculated - they’ve turned her intro a schemer with a heart of gold, which she lost definitely isn’t.

I think ITV bottled it and thought people wouldn’t warm to her as a lead character if she was as horrible as she is in in the novel. I guess there’s still time though!

Apologise if being really dense

Why is it seen as bad that Becky married Rawdon?

dingdongdigeridoo It's mostly filmed on Fitzroy Square which is actually really rather large compared to most London Square. However, given the Post Office tower dominates the skyline, they've only been able to use part of it. I quite agree that the production looks cheap and the CGI is both obvious and distracting because it's so awful/obvious!

Womaningreen Rawdon is the son of a Baronet and a well-respected officer in the army. He's supposed to marry someone of a similar class, monied or titled, preferably both. More often than not, someone his family has chosen. Instead he's married the governess daughter of a drunk drawing master/impoverished artist and a French chorus girl. At the most it would have been tolerated if Rawdon had had an affair with Becky, but marriage? Hell no. It's about class, snobbery and knowing your place. I imagine Matilda Crawley wanted a say in his marriage, and why she's disinherited him. I expect she feels betrayed by Becky too. And rightly so.
Have you read/seen Pride & Prejudice? A comparison is Caroline Bingley and Mr Darcy's sneering attitude to Jane Bennett/the Bennett family as a whole, and that the Bennett's are beneath them in every respect.

Stella
Thanks, that's what I thought but I wasn't quite sure.

@womaningreen Becky was probably encouraged by Matilda saying that she loved it when people ran away to get married in secret - but she really meant other people, not her own family 😂.

If they’d gone to her and said they were in love she’d probably have come around (esp given that she didn’t seem to have a problem with Sir Pitt’s proposal) but it’s fhe going behind her back that’s the jon great betrayal. She can ready Becky like a book!

It's easy to talk about others running of in secret to marry when your family or those you know aren't involved/doing it. It's quite another when they are.

Becky was mostly encouraged because she thought Rawdon would inherit all Matilda Crawley's money. Sir Pitt might have the title, but he's got no money. And she's fine with Sir Pitt's proposal to Becky because it doesn't effect her or her favourite Rawdon in any way, plus a miserly twice married Baronet really isn't much of a catch in her eye. Also, his previous wives are of a similar class/background to Becky.

Amelia's too nice - she's meant to be naice, huge difference. Her wetness ruins people as much as Becky's vim - Thackeray taking a swipe at Angel in the House female stereotypes.

Is the CGI meant to be deliberately fake-looking?