Product Description

When Daniel attends an extraordinary family reunion with his parents, he discovers a world he hardly knew existed. Seduced by the allure of this new world, Daniel adopts the role of go-between for his glamorous Aunt Alice and his dazzling cousins Rebecca (Claire Skinner) and Charles (Toby Stephens). But even the most honorable of intentions have the potential to go disastrously wrong.

DVD Features:
Other:2002 Peabody Award
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Stephen Poliakoff, composer Adrian Johnston and Production Designer JP Kelly
Featurette:Making of featurette with writer and cast interviews (17 mins)
Photo gallery:Photo Montage (2 mins)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9087 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-09-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 238 minutes

Customer Reviews

Lovely and Amazing
I was lucky enough to catch this amazing miniseries when it aired on BBC America some years ago. I would love to see it again, and would gladly purchase it were it available. Every performance in this captivating tale of various branches of a far-flung family, congregating for a once-in-a-lifetime reunion, is a good one, every intertwining story is fascinating in its own right. The ending is breathtaking, for all its apparent simplicity. This is the series that brought Matthew MacFadyen (Spooks, Pride and Prejudice) to my attention. He is fantastic in this series. It should not be missed.

High-class soap . . .
This 3-part production from the BBC is chiefly for fans of high-class soap. While intended to be full of ironies about the dubious pride we take in being related to notable people (especially when they're glamorous, upper class, and wealthy), the central story line is a series of revelations - all of them family secrets - that turn out to be more mysteriously promising in their expectation than they are in fact.

The performances make it all watchable. Michael Gambon is in top form as a curmudgeonly black sheep of the family (with comparisons early on to his cranky and embittered Singing Detective) and Lindsay Duncan as a beautiful, eternally sad woman of certain years who carries an unspoken grief with unfailing dignity. Together, they make a compelling contrast, and you wish the story had more to do with their relationship. Alas, it follows the adventures of his twenty-something son (Matthew Macfadyen), who takes a shine to two upper-crust cousins, while bedding one of them and finally meddling in family affairs that are beyond his simple wish to have age-old animosities resolved.

Writer-director Stephen Poliakoff provides a commentary for the film, revealing the experiences from his own life used as source material for the dramatic situations and characters he has created, plus observations on the film's production, locations used (like Claridge's) and other off-camera matters. A short featurette includes additional comments by Poliakoff and a few members of the cast.

Magnificent!
In "Almost Strangers," Stephen Poliakoff weaves a subtle spell. I recall thoroughly enjoying the engaging story and the superb acting--I mean, one can't beat Michael Gambon, Matthew Macfadyen, and Toby Stephens--when, totally unawares, I had become so entranced with the stories within the story of an extended family, that I had to watch all 237 minutes of it at one sitting.

Since the story is told from the point of view of Daniel (the son of the black sheep of the clan), who knows very little about the rest of the family, the viewer is put into a similar position, first of discomfort, as he moves from stereotypes, finally of fascinated affection, as he slowly unravels the secrets not only of his family but also of his own past.

Nor do the writers disappoint; all the clues deftly planted in the first scenes of the film, are revealed in a magical ending.