Parlez-vous Francais?
Feb. 7th, 2016 08:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessWar and Peace Episode 5
Mainly war, and the sense of scale of the battle and the effect of Pierre wandering around on a battlefield were well done, but as a whole, the episode was creaky. Maybe it was trying to cover too much ground, like Natasha’s sickness. Especially in the beginning it felt like nearly every other scene had an exposition dump telling us how much time had passed or, if we were lucky, why people were where they were.
Main triangle: Natasha was wrapped up in her sadness. I mean, really, not getting why married Pierre was being so kind to her and doing so much for her and why he shouldn’t? Even for a woman as written by Tolstoy, that’s a bit stupid. Cheekbones (who wore the best greatcoat) could NOT forgive her. Bad for him. He also lost even more sympathy by being angry about the falling and not the dumping. Pierre seemed to think that forgiveness equalled taking her back because he couldn’t imagine any greater happiness than taking a depressed Natasha who found someone else sexier as your wife. It doesn’t necessarily mean that, and it took a ridiculous plot contrivance (of all the tables in all the hospitals in a battle) for Andrei to forgive Anatole. Which should lead to him surviving another grievous wound so he can forgive Natasha, at least.
The line about forgiveness being a woman’s thing deserved an eyeroll, because although Pierre got a lot of eyerolls for a lot of other stuff he did this episode, he forgave Not!Athos for, more or less, the same thing. And the ‘I loved her SOUUUUL’ and ‘Anatole loved her flesh’ self-justifying was a bit disingenuous from Andrei. We all saw how you kissed her, sonny.
Pierre turning up and wandering around the battlefield, though...I loved that Andrei sneakily let him lie in so he wouldn’t have to take him along and in the genuine hope that it would help his friend stay alive longer. But then, both of them were in a fatalistic mood. (I think Dano and, for that matter, James are better actors than Norton, but I really don’t mind watching him.)
In other news, Mademoiselle was joined by a French tutor for Andrei’s son. WHY? Just one of the many probably silly questions this drama throws up for me.
But, seriously, couldn’t they find an injured ex-soldier? The Russian attitude to France seems weird when they’re pushing the nationalism so hard.
I would have left La Companion to the French, tbh. It just seemed really strange that she was in on the giggling excitement with Masha’s maid when Nicky came a-calling.
And yeah, Nicky/Masha? Not what I meant when I said I wanted a happy ending for her. I don’t see that he’s grown up enough or dug any roots deep enough for her (poor Sonya, plus see all my previous comments about Russian engagements times a dozen). Of course, there was this extra layer of all that has passed between Andrei and Nikolai, and Andrei/Masha/their father and Natassha, which the viewers, at least, know all about.
I was all on Masha’s side until she failed to handle the angry peasant, although I could see that she’d probably been sheltered from angry peasants for most of her life, was grief-stricken at her father’s death and under a lot of pressure, OKAY. (But she was fortunate that her loyal servants loved her and the soldiers were passing by.) Foreshadowing, anyway.
Meanwhile, Helene tried to entrap her latest pretty but dim thing (you could see him struggling with putting two and two together in the scene as she gave a false impression of the current husband) and I wonder what Kassovitz makes of playing Napoleon like this? I enjoyed what little we got of Aneurin Barnard in this episode.
Lots of gorgeous or striking moments, of course, and Natasha moped around some beautiful furniture. Sadly, there was a bit more wailing on the soundtrack, but a lot of the script just left me really more distanced than it needed to.
Mainly war, and the sense of scale of the battle and the effect of Pierre wandering around on a battlefield were well done, but as a whole, the episode was creaky. Maybe it was trying to cover too much ground, like Natasha’s sickness. Especially in the beginning it felt like nearly every other scene had an exposition dump telling us how much time had passed or, if we were lucky, why people were where they were.
Main triangle: Natasha was wrapped up in her sadness. I mean, really, not getting why married Pierre was being so kind to her and doing so much for her and why he shouldn’t? Even for a woman as written by Tolstoy, that’s a bit stupid. Cheekbones (who wore the best greatcoat) could NOT forgive her. Bad for him. He also lost even more sympathy by being angry about the falling and not the dumping. Pierre seemed to think that forgiveness equalled taking her back because he couldn’t imagine any greater happiness than taking a depressed Natasha who found someone else sexier as your wife. It doesn’t necessarily mean that, and it took a ridiculous plot contrivance (of all the tables in all the hospitals in a battle) for Andrei to forgive Anatole. Which should lead to him surviving another grievous wound so he can forgive Natasha, at least.
The line about forgiveness being a woman’s thing deserved an eyeroll, because although Pierre got a lot of eyerolls for a lot of other stuff he did this episode, he forgave Not!Athos for, more or less, the same thing. And the ‘I loved her SOUUUUL’ and ‘Anatole loved her flesh’ self-justifying was a bit disingenuous from Andrei. We all saw how you kissed her, sonny.
Pierre turning up and wandering around the battlefield, though...I loved that Andrei sneakily let him lie in so he wouldn’t have to take him along and in the genuine hope that it would help his friend stay alive longer. But then, both of them were in a fatalistic mood. (I think Dano and, for that matter, James are better actors than Norton, but I really don’t mind watching him.)
In other news, Mademoiselle was joined by a French tutor for Andrei’s son. WHY? Just one of the many probably silly questions this drama throws up for me.
But, seriously, couldn’t they find an injured ex-soldier? The Russian attitude to France seems weird when they’re pushing the nationalism so hard.
I would have left La Companion to the French, tbh. It just seemed really strange that she was in on the giggling excitement with Masha’s maid when Nicky came a-calling.
And yeah, Nicky/Masha? Not what I meant when I said I wanted a happy ending for her. I don’t see that he’s grown up enough or dug any roots deep enough for her (poor Sonya, plus see all my previous comments about Russian engagements times a dozen). Of course, there was this extra layer of all that has passed between Andrei and Nikolai, and Andrei/Masha/their father and Natassha, which the viewers, at least, know all about.
I was all on Masha’s side until she failed to handle the angry peasant, although I could see that she’d probably been sheltered from angry peasants for most of her life, was grief-stricken at her father’s death and under a lot of pressure, OKAY. (But she was fortunate that her loyal servants loved her and the soldiers were passing by.) Foreshadowing, anyway.
Meanwhile, Helene tried to entrap her latest pretty but dim thing (you could see him struggling with putting two and two together in the scene as she gave a false impression of the current husband) and I wonder what Kassovitz makes of playing Napoleon like this? I enjoyed what little we got of Aneurin Barnard in this episode.
Lots of gorgeous or striking moments, of course, and Natasha moped around some beautiful furniture. Sadly, there was a bit more wailing on the soundtrack, but a lot of the script just left me really more distanced than it needed to.
