Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Sebastian (sts-26) One could say that this attempt to adapt Nancy Mitford's two most notable works for television just suffers by comparison to the very successful 1980s attempt, but it would not be true. The fact is this miniseries is simply atrocious.The problem lies with one word - literary. Mitford's works are superficially about extreme characters (full of charm and idiosyncrasies), but are, at their core, about language and how it reflects the times, relationships, and society. Her stories - The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate - unfold gently, and, while the books are luxurious in their story telling, not one word is redundant.So, while adaption of other authors' works can involve stripping everything away until you have the plot, and then building up from there, an adaption of a Mitford work must involve taking the whole piece and then carefully trying to determine what may safely be removed. The creators and writers of the 1980s series understood this perfectly, and those of the 2001 series did not.As a result, in the 2001 version, events and characters seem disconnected and - with no histories (which in the previous version were often offered via the endless discussions that occurred between characters) - certain characters are inexplicably mean, frivolous or stupid. The actors, who have nothing to work with, seem to flounder, and often look embarrassed (they were hired to do a Pride and Prejudice, and find they are doing a cola commercial). Only Alan Bates reaches the end of the this adaption with no, or little, egg on his face. I bet many involved in this terrible project have chosen to leave it off, or at least downplay it on, their resumes.

pushkasbreath How can you take an eccentric literary masterpiece, a deceptively casual work of brilliance and manifest it for the screen? Not like this, that's for sure. This three-hour yawn is a hopeless attempt to skim through two books, taking much of it literally from the page and condensing the rest very badly. As usual, the television establishment decide to invest in a classic British period drama adaptation with a painting by numbers approach. All the right locations, props and costumes, but no imagination. This is one classic that needed a mammoth feat of creative interpretation to work. Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless. It's just like British cooking, chuck all the correct ingredients in but don't bother to make it taste of anything. They missed the point entirely. Love in a Cold Climate is about Love. Do we understand why each character loves Linda most of all, with her sweet, sweet nature, her unselfconscious extremes of passions, her infinite compassion for animals, her devotion to love above all else? Are we terrified by Uncle Matthews blue flashing rages? Seduced by Sauveterre's immense, sexy charm? No, no, no. None of the characters are well portrayed, despite a largely excellent cast (particularly Bates, Imrie, Gish, Andrews and Pike). In fact it was only saved by a handful of good, experienced performances in spite of the abysmal direction. The rest were unguided and out of their depth. Despite its condensed nature, the whole thing plods along desperately slowly, and yet gives no substance to anything. It just ticks the necessary boxes, stolidly covering this important plot point, clumsily marking that amusing event from the book. How could they have made everything so boring and dull? Funnily enough, this was the one thing they were supposed to do with Tony Kroesig - of course he seemed rather baby faced and charming. It all comes across like a school play, distinctly amateur, strictly one for our Anglophile cousins.

fordraff From the excellent period costumes and detail (the 1930's) to the luxurious, well-appointed sets, to the vibrant colors (check out the red lipstick), "Love In A Cold Climate" can stand next to "Imitation of Life," "All That Heaven Allows," "Written on the Wind," and other Technicolor Sirk hits.Each of the three women who are the focus of the film has traits that viewers can identify with as they follow the girls' pursuit of love.Fanny Logan is the quiet, sensible, conservative woman who marries a college professor and lives a routine but satisfying life. Haven't we all had moments of longing for that sort of secure life? Linda Radlett, Fanny's cousin, has the romantic life we've all fantasized about. First, she marries Tony Kroesig, wealthy son of a banker, who appears fun loving but turns stuffy after marriage. Linda divorces Tony to marry Christian Talbert, a handsome young Communist who takes her off to help refugees in the Spanish Civil War. When Christian finds in Lavender Davies a woman who shares his radical sympathies more sincerely than does Linda, she is off to London. But when Linda misses her train in Paris and doesn't have any money to purchase another fare, she meets Fabrice, a wealthy, handsome nobleman, and becomes his mistress, set up in a beautiful apartment with plenty of money to buy frocks at the best Paris shops.And then there are those times when one behaves perversely, stubbornly, spitefully. And Polly Hampton, the third protagonist, will provide us a source to identify in those moments. Polly is stubbornly defiant of her mother's attempts to marry her off, until Boy Dougdale becomes available--after the death of his wife, Polly's aunt. Polly marries Boy to spite her mother, since Boy is rumored to be her mother's lover.But when Boy eventually becomes involved with Cedric Hampton, a flamboyant gay from Nova Scotia (don't ask), Polly is able to go off with a more acceptable man (fleeing in a flashy, low-slung sport car) who will provide her a better future.In addition to gay Cedric and bisexual Boy, there is the eccentric Lord Merlin, who may well be gay--or just asexual. This eccentric old guy observes the doings of the women, makes apt observations, and gives good advice, all of which is ignored, of course.Lest you think this pursuit of love is all serious business, I will tell you that there is plenty of laughing-out-loud humor here as well--exactly the sort that would have pleased the Ross Hunter who made the Doris Day-Rock Hudson comedies.The three leading ladies are perfectly cast but so are the supporting players, who often (unintentionally) upstage the protagonists. And the boyfriends are all handsome fellows. Yummy.There is only one thing to do: Make a pot of tea, place some fine cookies on a nice plate or open that box of chocolates, and sink into a soft sofa. Then watch "Love In A Cold Climate" and enjoy two and a half hours of fine entertainment--one of the best women's pictures ever.

zettel-2 Excellent adaption of Nancy Mitford's sarcastic panorama of English upper class life between the wars. The casting is absolutely splendid from well known old battlehorses of British TV-drama like Alan Bates, Frances Barber, Anthony Andrews and Sheila Gish to outstanding new faces like the hilarious Daniel Evans. The congenial directing has managed to produce some of the funniest scenes on TV and I just love to watch the video again and again.