uncut TV screening

I, too, was hoping it would have been repeated. I thoroughly enjoyed it and haven't stopped raving about it to anyone will listen - although some may argue they haven't much choice as to whether they listen to me or not!

The Medieval period interests me so the film appealed to me in that aspect, and the fact that Colin Firth is in it is just a great bonus!

There is so much going on this film, and sadly I didn't fully comprehend all of it with just one viewing - For example, his strange sequence of dreams which eventually became reality at the end: did he have some kind of Nostradamus kind of ability to foresee things? What similarities/contrasts are there between his dreams and what eventually becomes reality? The numerous omens - owls, ravens etc - what was their significance? - Yes, I've probably put way too much thought into this.

One particular scene that sticks in mind is where he's led upon the bed, after spilling the wine over his shirt - by this point I was convinced it was foreshadowing an imminent death and became quite vocal towards the tv begging for Colin to survive the duration of the film! - and as he's falling asleep, blood appears from nowhere, trickling down his pillow and around him before he finds himself wading through it. This then merges into him being back at the bath house with all the people that are seen there earlier in the film, leaving. Then there's a succession of things that are considered omens - the owls, ravens etc. He eventually finds himself out in the town, in the dark where a boy is attempting to flee an attacker. I'm not usually someone who get's excited about the technicalities of films - I prefer to enjoy them as escapsim tools - but this was so brilliantly done and there was so much going on: I thought it fantastic!

Not long ago I was arguing with a colleague about Medieval times and the pros and cons of living in that particular time period. In some ways, my arguement idealised and glamourised this particular period in history, but this film have changed the way I perceive what life may have been like in such a time. The setting and locations and dress and lifestyle suddenly seemed disgusting grimy - though that's not to imply that the film is in any way gory or grotesque - unsafe, and in some ways, not really having any purpose.

At the time, I was arguing that, there's so much pressure on people in life today and that, in a period such as this, there was structure and ignorance - not something I'd wish on anyone but in someways, it's bliss. Everyone and Everything had it's place: if you were born a serf, you'd die a serf. If you were good, you'd go to Heaven, and if you were bad you'd go to Hell and face eternal punishment. Literacy levels weren't great, and with no such thing as media, news from the wider world was, more often than not, unheard of. People worked on the land, and whilst food, hygene and healthcare were nothing like today, it sufficed and people got by: there's was no worrying over insignificant things such as making sure there's a sufficient supply of petrol in the car to get you to work, or rushing home to find which person had most recently been evicted off Big Brother. But as I said, it wasn't all good: crime was high, and there are things that whilst not regarded as a crime today, were back then - no woman is forced to wear a Scold's Bridal as punishment for rudeness or gossiping these days. And then, as we found out at the end of the film, you may have had the additional challenge of avoiding being plagued by a dose of 'the Black Death'(apologies for the awful pun!).

Sorry, I digressed - back to the film: I was surprised to read the write-ups in the television guides use the word 'Comedy' to partly describe it. Whilst there wasn't really any physical slapstick type humour, there was humour in the dialogue. The scene with Richard sarcastically questioning the pig in the courtroom for example, or Richard mentioning his wanting to be in a brothel not long after the farsical court case finishes, only for his colleague to comment that they were in one - the inn where they had been staying all along - the blatently obvious had elluded the really intellegent lawyer.

Finally there's Colin Firth; usual stuff - he's brilliant, amazingly talented, sexy, funny, serious, conflicted, frustrated, and not forgetting completely gorgeous (both in and out of his costumes).

Why no DVD yet, BBC?!