Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11443 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2002-04-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 300 minutes

Features

• The Way We Live Now captures the turmoil as the old order is swept aside by the brash new forces of business and finance. Based on the novel by Anthony Trollope, this satire of Victorian society contains the trials and tribulations of young love, the pettiness of the upper life, the raw energy and excitement of the most powerful city the world had ever seen, and the greed and corruption that lay j

Video Description
The Way We Live Now captures the turmoil as the old order is swept aside by the brash new forces of business and finance. Based on the novel by Anthony Trollope, this satire of Victorian society contains all the dynamic elements that made him one of the most celebrated and popular novelists of his day--the trials and tribulations of young love, the pettiness of the upper class life, the raw energy and excitement of the most powerful city the world had ever seen, and the greed and corruption that lay just below its glittering surface.

Episode 1: When infamous financier Augustus Melmotte (David Suchet) mysteriously appears in London, the city's impoverished aristocrats greedily court his favor. Felix Carbury, a charming but lazy young baronet, is one of the many gentlemen swarming around Melmotte's rich heiress daughter, Marie. Meanwhile, Felix's independently minded sister, Hetta, falls in love with a bright young engineer, Paul Montague, who is in town to approach Melmotte with an ambitious business propostion. Complications soon arise in business and love.

Episode 2: While Paul Montague throws himself into the booming railway business with Melmotte, the presence of his mysterious American friend in London threatens to jeopardize his chances with Hetta. Felix is forced to desperate measures to secure his future with Marie when he learns that her father is planning her marriage to a rival suitor.

Episode 3: Paul visits Mexico to have his worst fears about the railway construction confirmed. Returning to London he decides to confront Melmotte and resolve his romantic situation. Melmotte involves himself in increasingly ambitious business schemes while Felix gets himself into further trouble and Hetta recieves some devastating news.

Episode 4: Melmotte reaches the highest echelons of London society but the wolves are beginning to gather at his door. Paul takes his chance to act and Felix comes face to face with some tough opposition, while Hetta contemplates settling for second best. Climaxing in love lost, love gained, a death and some just desserts.

Amazon.com
First screened on BBC in 2001, The Way We Live Now will surprise those who know Anthony Trollope through the subtleties of his Barsetshire novels. This story of ambition centers around Augustus Melmotte, an Austrian Jewish financier who takes the London money markets and social scene by storm in his efforts to become an "English country gentleman." His rise and fall is followed with remorseless logic by Trollope, and David Yates's direction keeps this in focus against a wealth of subplots and character interaction.

The cast is a strong one, with David Suchet's Melmotte gripping in his recklessness, climaxing in the theatrical magnificence of his departure in disgrace from the House of Commons. Shirley Henderson is magnetic as his put-upon daughter Marie, courted by the cream-of-society bachelors for her dowry rather than her person. Cheryl Campbell gives a good account of the feckless Lady Carbury, writing vacuous novels to support her family, with Matthew MacFadyen relishing the part of her rakish son, Felix. Paloma Baeza is sympathetic as her daughter, Hetta, whose on-off relationship with entrepreneur Paul Montague, ably taken by Cillian Murphy, provides the main love interest. Douglas Hodge impresses as the loyal and sincere but insipid Roger Carbury.

The series consists of four generous episodes, each lasting 75 minutes. This is an absorbing production of what isn't the most subtle of Victorian novels, but which surely remains among the most relevant. --Richard Whitehouse

Customer Reviews

The Way We Live Now is a feast for those loving a good story beautifully acted and filmed in BBC Color!
How We Live Now is the 1870s novel written by Anthony Trollope (1815-1882, While Trollope is best known for his Barchester series dealing with the clergy and the Palliser series focusing on Victorian political life this novel of business and family life is considered one of his best novels (and he wrote 47!)
Mr. Melmotte is a European schemer who fleeces several prominent men to invest in a bogus railroad company. David Suchet stars in this role (best known for his Hercule Poirot
portrayal), The stout and middle aged Suchet plays Melmotte with genius and his presence is strong and memorable.
Shirley Henderson playing his abused and lovelorn daugher Marie is very well acted. Her love affair with the cad Felix
Carbury is drawn with superb depth in fine acting.
The love affair between Hettie Carbury and the engineer Paul
Montague (who has an American girfriend Winifred Hurtle who shows up to fight for her man) is very interesting as the triangle love affair is worked out during the course of the 6 hour Masterpiece miniseries.
The BBC production is sumptuous! Beautiful period costumes
and music add to the sheer enjoyment of this series!
Americans are sometimes bored because British programming
moves at a sloweer pace than many of our tv programs. They forget that these novels fulfilled the function of a soap opera as their stories were issued in monthly parts. Trollope is not as well known as George Eliot or the inimitable Dickens but any
of his novels portrayed on the screen is well worth the time to
view it.
Congratulations to the BBC and the outstanding cast of this
fine film!

Good not great.
I love British period films. And am a huge fan of Matthew Macfadyen. But this film did not satisfy the hype. Every bit of detail was paid -- unfortunately making the entire film drag and leaving me wanting something... Although the story is strong, the cinematography beautiful and much of the dialogue clever, some weaknesses were hard to overcome. For example: Paul Montague's ex-fiance from America... Her southern accent is ridiculous and making her an utterly unbelievable character. Augustus Melmotte, although he reminded me of the Danny Devito's Penguine from Batman, was effectively dark and menacing. But because he is in much of the scenes, his character became strangely redundant, predictable. However, the rest of the cast was excellent. Matthew Macfadyen, as Sir Felix, was hilarious and charming as a cad. As good as this movie was, it could have been so much better had the director been more liberal with the editing... as is, it is extremely long and somewhat repetitive. But fans of period films will be forgiving and enjoy it nonetheless.

Brilliant production!
Everything about this BBC production was perfect. In particular, David Suchet shows that he can be much more than Poirot ;-). My wife and I recommend it highly.