I am amazed that she is playing a woman who men find so attractive. She is ugly inside and out. I prefer the 1960's version because of her....terrible actress also.
shareStandards of beauty change over time, and Gina McKee's look would likely have been very much in favor at the time of the story. Though not a beauty by today's standards, she has a quiet, gentle elegance that to some qualifies as a type of beauty.
shareI think Gina McKee, while very different from the more lush 60s-style beauty of Nyree Dawn Porter, is also lovely. Ms McKee's beauty is individual rather than classical, and her slight overbite and youthful, sculpted face are full of feeling and character. I find her a joy to watch, even as against the more classically beautiful Ioan Gruffudd.
shareHonestly, I couldn't buy into the fact that everybody wanted her. Were they seeing the same woman I was?!
shareWhich of the men were better looking than she? Soames, Freddy, Old Jolyon, Young Jolyon, the bar keep in Paris? None of them were. Bosinney is the only one who was, and not by a lot.
shareIt's not even about the men, though. It's the fact that there were far more beautiful women around Irene and these men that they didn't even give a second look to but were all in AWE of the hideous Irene.
June herself was better looking than Irene! Yet her love interest can't see past Irene?
Soames daughter who was GORGEOUS even spoke of how drop dead beautiful Irene was when Irene was NOTHING compared to her herself or her mother for that matter.
It is about the men too. With the exception of Bosinney, none of them were great looking.
Come on now, Gina McKee is objectively better looking than the actress who played June, or Annette, and is hardly hideous. The actress who played Fleur was beautiful, but that doesn't mean Fleur couldn't appreciate and comment on the attractiveness of another woman. She was the only woman on the show who was more attractive than Irene.
Gina McKee does have something of an odd face though. From some angles she's beautiful, from others she's much less attractive.
Hi there. I think she is lovely. But she has sort of dead eyes. Not sure how to say this, but there is nothing magnetic about her to justify how all the men seem to go ape-shit over her.
shareHello again :)
I know what you mean about her eyes. But for me all of this worked. There was something sort of lifeless and very languid about her portrayal of Irene. I thought that played very well, especially in the showdown scene between June and Irene at Bosinney's flat. Don't recall the exact line, but June spat at her something about her being like a vampire, sucking away the life from everyone else. That barb found its mark.
I found something magnetic about her in that strange languidness. It both irritated and fascinated me. It may have fascinated me in part because I found it irritating, if that makes any sense to you.
"I just find the differences between the 1960's version and the 2000's version of the Forsyte Saga to be very striking. For me (as female) it gets down to how attractive the actor playing Soames was. Eric Porter was a terrific actor-- but physically repulsive. Damian Lewis, was also a great actor, but super good looking. Also, the actress playing Irenie in the 2000's version was not very good."
I never could get into the 1960s version, although I tried. I understand the woman who played Irene, and the character herself, was far more vivacious (ha, vast understatement) than 2003's Irene, and true to Galsworthy's Irene. I do disagree with you that Gina McGee wasn't very good, but had I first seen the 60s Irene, I imagine the contrast between the two would have been jarring for me.
This was the first thing I ever saw Damian Lewis in, and while he bowled me over in his performance and it's caused me to be a big fan of his to this day, his Soames was repulsive to me so I had trouble seeing past that. That's how good he was in it! That was my take on him in the first several viewings. As I kept watching it, he became more sympathetic and three-dimensional, but still hardly an admirable character.
The first thing I ever saw Damien Lewis in was "Band of Brothers." He did that with an American accent and was just terrific. I think BoB was a great mini-series. I got the DVD set as a gift for my father, who just loved it.
I watched the 1960's version in the 1970's, which to me was the Golden Age of these British mini-series. "Upstairs/Downstairs," "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", "Elizabeth R", and "I, Claudius." They were incredible. Crappy scenery, poor make-up, so-so costumes, but brilliant writing and acting.
Anyway, the the local public Television channel (WNET) aired the entire series every day over the summer of 1974. It was just riveting.
Gina McGee also appeared in "The Forgotten Prince" and her understated performance worked very well in that. https://youtu.be/WRKUseWpJPE
I spend a lot of time watching British documentaries on YouTube (perhaps a bit too much, according to Mr. Portrait). But I just feel that Irene could have cut a better deal for herself at the outset of her relationship with Soames. For this reason, I'm less inclined to have unlimited sympathy for her. For instance, she could have requested a longer engagement. This was not unheard of at that time. The time to get what she needed/wanted from Soames was before she "belonged" to him.
I still haven't seen Band of Brothers, and want to, only because he's in it! Have you watched Billions? I was so disappointed, thinking I was in for a real treat, but I only made it through the first episode, and that barely. From what I saw of his character in it, it doesn't have enough meat on its bones for Lewis to shine the way he needs to.
"Crappy scenery, poor make-up, so-so costumes"
That's what put me off of most of the ones you mentioned. Made it too difficult for me to engage and lose myself in it so I could appreciate the acting and writing. Maybe some day.
I wish now I'd seen the 60s version first, and when you saw it. I think my take would have been very different if I had. As it is, for me this version is it. I don't see how anyone could top Lewis's Soames and his story is so central to it.
I haven't heard of The Forgotten Prince. Thanks for the link. I'll be watching that soon.
I'm not sure what you mean by asking for an extended engagement giving Irene 'the time to get what she needed/wanted from Soames was before she "belonged" to him.' What she needed at that time was a roof over her head and financial security. How would extending the engagement accomplish that for her?
I'm not sure what you mean by asking for an extended engagement giving Irene 'the time to get what she needed/wanted from Soames was before she "belonged" to him.' What she needed at that time was a roof over her head and financial security. How would extending the engagement accomplish that for her?
I wasn't suggesting Irene asking for a longer engagement would have been anything out of the ordinary. I just didn't see where you were going with it getting her a better deal, so to speak, on what she needed.
Would it have been "the done thing" for a fiancee to go live with her betrothed's aunts or other relatives during an engagement period? That isn't something I've heard of, especially not when in Irene's case she had a stepmother with whom she'd been living. People would wonder why she didn't just stay with her until they were married.
I thought Galsworthy covered Irene's choices by starting out showing Hélène's unhappy plight as a young woman alone in the world, who'd been "gently raised," who had to go out and make her living as a governess. Irene could have done that, or the other options you mention, but a good marriage, including children, would have been vastly preferable.
She does eventually become a music teacher, and yes those women were prostitutes. She was trying to give back to them the help she'd once received from them. She seemed happy enough, but was much happier later when she became friends with and then married Young Jolyon and had children. It was something she wanted, just not with Soames.
I'll see if I can find I, Claudius on YouTube and give it a go.
Have you watched Billions?
Isn’t she the actress in the wheelchair from Notting Hill? She was pretty in that film. Period dress is not flattering on everyone. Julia Roberts looks horrible in it, but looks lovely in Notting Hill.
shareYes, she is. But now that I think back, she had that languid thing going on in that too. I agree she was pretty in it, and actually I thought her costumes in The Forsyte Saga were wonderful and suited her.
The only period piece I've seen Julia Roberts in is Mona Lisa Smile, and I thought she looked good in those costumes. Did I miss one, or two, or more?
Julia Roberts was in a period film called Mary Reilly. She also wore Victorian era costume in one scene in Notting Hill. Although Mona Lisa was set in the 1950s Julia looked like she teleported into that film from the 1990s.
shareI'd forgotten about Mary Reilly. I did see that. It was fine. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of hers, although I did like Mona Lisa Smile and thought she and her costuming was fine. What was it about her (hair, makeup, costuming?) that made you feel she looked so 90s in it?
shareCompared to the other actresses who had the Donna Reed tight hairdoos and red lipstick, Julia’s hair was just as she wears it in modern films and her make up was subtle. Granted her character was bohemian and unconventional, so her natural style fit the part. Still the other actresses in the film were more representative of the times.
shareIt is true that unlike Nyree Dawn Porter, Gina McKee is not what some people would find beautiful.
I don't see why that should be a problem though, because different people have different views on what beauty is.
And in what way is she a terrible actress?
I think they spent their budget on the three good looking guys: Damien, Rupert and Ioan. Considering that the audience would probably be mostly women, seems like a good choice.
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