I spent the last couple of evenings watching David Yates’ 2001 adaptation of Trollope’s, The Way We Live Now. I loved it. David Suchet is riveting as the devious but very charming, Augustus Melmotte. Shirely Henderson as his very odd, but ultimately likable daughter, Marie, is also superb and with stellar performances by Killian Murphy and Matthew MacFayden, the whole production is captivating from beginning to end.
The story has all the period drama necessities, top hats, cinched waists, and all sorts of dilemmas about love, marriage, wealth, social standing and reputation. Think Jane Austen with a great big dollop of comedy. Trollope obviously had a great sense of humour and has spilled this into many of his characters who at times can seem like caricatures rather than fully developed personalities. But it works. Sir Felix (Matthew MacFayden) is a lazy, immatature mummy’s boy, who gambles what little money his family have and plots to marry the very wealthy’s Melmotte’s daughter, Marie. Of course, it all goes wrong, largely due to his pathological and childish self-centredness (and his gambling addiction too, as he gambles away the money Marie gave him for their elopement).
Marie, who at the beginning of the series is to all appearances a spoiled and unhappy young rich woman, tolerated by her mother and beaten by her father, is for me the true heroine of the story. Ecstatic at having at last found in Felix what she believes is a man who truly loves her (as she is not the prettiest of girls) she shows herself willing to sacrifice everything for their relationship, including her fortune. Felix being a superficial ‘blackguard’ ultimately rejects her and Marie finally sees the truth but in the process has grown into an independent and mature young lady.
What Trollope does brilliantly that is lacking other writing of his era is develop plot. While he deals with the issues of social standing, love matches and wealth, by bringing the money hungry, unscrupulous Melmotte into the story along with Paul Montague’s plans to build a railway, he creates an intriguing plot that ultimately leads to the downfall of Melmotte.
Being an Englishman working in Ireland (and with a love of the Irish) Trollope understood the concept of stranger or outsider. Originally, Trollope had planned that Melmotte’s character would be an Irishman. Given that the Irish were largely despised by the English at that time, this would have given the character less chance of being accepted in London society. As it happens, without specifiying Melmotte’s nationality (but suggesting Eastern European, perhaps Hungarian), Trollope managed to make the character a crooked, deceiving but oddly likable man, who can attract the company of English ‘society’ because of his wealth. He is not without charm and like all good con men has ample self-confidence. But as Melmotte himself said, he stayed too long in England. He enjoyed being an ‘English Gentleman’ too much and finally he became the victim of his own deceptions .
The portrayal of the Melmotte’s vulgarity (as foreigner unfamiliar with the etiquette of society), particularly through their eating habits adds fabulous comedic value. David Suchet, manages to portray Melmotte as almost animalistic. The noises are at times like a tiger purring, and the these sounds made while contemplating especially suggest him as a person to be feared. Suchet portrays the character amazingly.
Ulitmately, the stranger fails and the Englishman triumphs. Melmotte kills himself while laughing insanely at the irony of a portrait he commissioned which sees him in a typically English, aristocratic pose. Montague, who was largely responsible for exposing Melmotte’s scams triumphs and builds his railways. All of the loose ends are tied up when it comes to romance and love and even Sir Felix, banished by his mother’s new husband (and financial saviour) manages to maintain his gigolo habits while in some strange and foreign country. It is ironic that Trollope ends the novel with Felix, the Baronet and gentlemen, becoming the stranger, in a country where title (which is all he had in England) means nothing.
There is so much more the the story than I have managed to tell here. I suggest, if you like period drama that you watch it. Suchet is the real star and I guarantee, you will not be at all disappointed.
Share on Facebook
Balloon Over St.Petersburg 5″ x 5″ Print
A Gentleman’s Regret – 5″ x 5″ Print
Bizarre Little Ramblings … And A Poem
Digital Art : My Photoshop Sketch of Kristen Scott Thomas
Bernard And Doris. A Review.