Daniel Deronda [DVD] [2002] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Good

Brilliant cast, brilliant production and a great story

Well acted by up and coming actors. The script was clever in making an overlong book easy to watch and understand.

George Eliot's novel Daniel Deronda does not offer the same deep satisfaction that her masterpiece Middlemarch does. Whereas the latter weaves a richly-textured tapestry of mid-Victorian urban and rural life, the former is cut from more conventional cloth - at least in one of its two parallel narratives. This concerns the beautiful but selfish and headstrong Gwendolen Harleth, who, to escape the - to her - ignominy of having to work as a governess, marries an older man, the wealthy but domineering and coldly-calculating Henleigh Grandcourt. That she lives to regret it soon becomes all too evident. The other narrative is more interesting and compelling : young and personable Daniel Deronda, the apparently illegitimate son of an aristocrat, Sir Hugh Mallinger, searches for both his true identity and a real purpose in life. He finds it through a chance encounter when he saves a young Jewish singer, Mirah Lapidoth, from drowning in an attempted suicide. In what follows the authoress is both mature and uncannily prophetic in her treatment of Jewishness. This is another of those classic, beautifully-made BBC co-productions with WGBH Boston that seem to belong to a golden era, now well and truly past. Directed by Tom Hooper, since lauded as the Director of The King's Speech and Les Miserables and adapted by the ubiquitous Andrew Davies, it affords a constant pleasure. The production is distinguished by some exquisite photography and excellent performances by a cast which includes Hugh Dancy in the name part, Romola Garai as Gwendolen, Jodhi May as Mirah and, in typically fruity style, Edward Fox as Sir Hugh Mallinger. Highly recommended.

THIS IS A WELL THOUGHT OUT AND ORIGINAL STORY WITH EXCELLENT ACTORS AND PRODUCTION.

This is a brilliant version of Daniel Deronda, a highly courageous and contentious novel in its day, and one that contains some of George Eliot's finest writing. The story as filmed develops slowly, and the pace of the first part is noticeably slow. But the action thereafter steadily gathers momentum, and the narrative is brought in due course to a satisfying and moving conclusion.The acting throughout is uniformly excellent, with Romola Garai and Hugh Bonneville giving beautifully nuanced performances, and Hugh Dancy, in the central role, delivering an outstandingly intelligent and sensitive interpretation of Daniel Deronda's character. Edward Fox excels as Deronda's guardian. By comparison, Jodhi May seems a little subdued and predictable - but that's probably the fault of the novel rather than of the production.One of the reviewers has written somewhat disparagingly about the DVD's quality, but I have to say that my disc was delivered in faultless condition, and fully does justice to the magnificent photography.In all, a first-class rendition of Daniel Deronda and one that I would recommend without any hesitation whatsoever.

I love the psychological insight of Middlemarch and other George Eliot novels and have always found Daniel Deronda a bit of a puzzle. The characters just don't have much depth and complexity and this film version cannot change that. It's a fine adaptation with subtle performances. But what can you do with the rather dull, sensitive soul of Deronda or the super baddy Henleigh Grandcourt? These are characters more in keeping with a Dickens novel. So if you like Dickens you'll like the film - or the book - more than me. I guess Eliot - coming back to her intellectual roots - was using the story to talk about religious freedom and Zionism and these themes do come through in Part Three of this film. For late Victorians this was fresh stuff. But today it looks like a clichéd version of Jewish identity. That said Sir Hugo Mallinger and Gwendolen are both a treat to watch and it's great to see so much time and effort given what, in many ways, is a rather difficult book. But why adapt Deronda and not 'Felix Holt: The Radical', a better and more timely novel?

Having enjoyed many BBC dramas such as Our Mutual Friend, Middlemarch, Martin Chuzzlewit etc, I was looking forward to this one, but unfortunately I was quite disappointed. It doesn't stand any near the drammas I've mentioned. Although the acting is superb, the script is awfully dull with the same boring and simple dialogs between Daniel and Gwendolen repeating again and again. Some parts seem to be unfinished or cut. For example, when Mirah meets her brother, who she got sepatated from when she was a child, they only show how they met and hugged each other and then it quickly changes to the different scene. The whole film is very unbalanced. Also some silent scenes are unnecessarily long, which makes them a little irritating and very boring - Deronda rowing in the boat and looking around or a man on the bridge looking at Deronda. The music made the film even more boring - always dipressing even when the events are happy. I litterally couln't wait for it to finish. Definitely would not recommend.