The Woman in White
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Actor: Andrew Lincoln, John Standing, Justine Waddell, Susan Vidler, Tara FitzgeraldBrand: Wgbh Wholesale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-10-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: PBS
DVD Reviews of The Woman in White
DVD Review: A Terrible Adaptation of a Great Novel
Summary: 1 Stars
I want to begin this review with the fact that I love Wilkie Collins' work. He was a great writer, and The Woman in White remains, in my opinion, his best work, as well as my own personal favorite. It is a great book with a thrilling story and great characters, and what more do you need in a novel?
The movie, on the other hand, isn't so good.
From the very first scene you get the feeling that the rest of the movie is going to be dark and depressing. The writers left the book by the wayside when they wrote this script, and it bears no resemblance to the source material aside from the fact that there is a woman in it and that she's dressed in white.
Collins' book focused on an everyday setting with everyday people dragged into an unusual circumstance: A young man engaged as a drawing teacher to two sisters meets a strange woman, all in white, on the road to their house. She tells him of a secret she has, but runs fom him before she reveals it to him. He falls in love with one of the sisters, who looks exactly like the woman, and is separated from her by discovering that she is already engaged to a man of high rank. It is a classic story, but Collins mixes in some detective fiction, suspense, mystery, and romance with colorful foreigners, secret societies, mistaken identities, long-hidden secrets, and criminal activities to make it into something uniquely his own. Two of the 19th century's finest literary characters were created fro this novel: Marion Halcombe, considered the first female detective, and Count Fosco, the "Napoleon of Crime", one of the most delicious characters ever put on paper. The scenes of daily life are portrayed vividly and with such realism, and are a welcome respite away from the pace and suspense at the main thread. Nothing of this is present in this movie.
Too many liberties were taken to my liking. For one thing, the Woman in White (Anne Catherick) and Laura Fairlie are both supposed to be blondes. In this, they both have drab brown hair. It's hard to tell Laura from Anne from Marian (Laura's half-sister), and this is made even more confusing when the relationship of the sisters is changed (in the book Laura and Marian are only half-sisters; here they are just sisters), and they are both called Ms. Fairlie. The actress playing Anne is just too deranged for me. She acts so weird that it's difficult to feel any pity for her. I couldn't stand to look at her for more than a few seconds. Actually, compared with the other actors, she seems sort of normal. They all act rather strangely, and seem uncomforable in their roles.
No one looks at all like they are supposed to. For instance, why is the actor playing Count Fosco, who is supposed to be a rotund, robust Italian, just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, avarage-sized Englishman, with no Italian in him at all? Marian has a complete character change; she is brutal and ruthless, and does not leave you rooting for her at all. Walter, the drawing-master, is portrayed as a slovenly profligate, which is nothing like the kindly and gentlemanly young man that he is in the book. The man who plays Sir Percival Glyde, the man Laura is engaged to, is much too old and boring for the part, and is hardly ever seen here, even though he is the primary heart of the Secret in which all of the characters are tied up with.
The overall feeling of the film is disturbing and unsettling, focusing more on a horror genre, nothing of which was present in the book, rather than a mystery or a semi-supernatural thriller. There are no breaks or breathers, and despite the fast pace, hardly anything happens during the course if the two-hour film, especially in comparison with the book, which had a lot to offer. I found myself getting extremely bored and wondering when it was finally going to end.
The incidents elaborated on or added (to no improvement to the storyline) are either cut too short or overstretched, and make you want to scream and ask yourself WHY they decided to make such drastic changes like that to the story when there was absolutely no need for them. My belief has always been that if it isn't broke, don't fix it, a maxim these filmakers obviously didn't listen to.
If I was bored to death earlier, I simply apalled by the events leading to and the eventual discovery of the Secret, which has been changed substancially from the way Collins wrote it. The scene in the vestry is unexciting yet at the same time unbearable to watch. I was disgusted with the utter cruelty and inhumanity in which the characters conduct themselves, and find that it is too stressful to be borne as entertainment.
Strange camera angles, over-eerie music, drastic story changes/additions, improper casting, and bad acting all add up to one film you should not waste your time or money on.
Take my advice: If you like the book and want to see (or rather hear it) reverently portrayed and well-acted, consider investing in the fantastic 2-CD set of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of The Woman in White. It captures the atmosphere and excitement of the novel, while making some appropriate improvements to the story and characters while not altering anything for the worse. You can't miss Michael Crawford's charmingly sinister Count Fosco. I've reread the book several times and can't picture anyone but the amazing cast of that show as the characters described. Just don't ruin your love and vision of Wilkie Collin's masterpiece first with this waste of a movie.
Description of The Woman in White
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