Whilst I agree the drama had a English feel to it, it was not because they spoke with English accents. I think it's pretty much impossible to adapt any story and not put your own take on it, being a modern take or a different cultural take. These things I think just seep in to the adapation tbh. Just like I think a Russian verison of Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy would inevitably have a Russian feel to it. And I don't think it lessened the story, although I didn't know the story until I watched this.
The overall feel of it may have felt kind of English, but I certainly never felt I was in England. The sweeping scale of it all, the massive landscapes, the harsh bitterness of the winters, the giant palaces and houses and the lack of the usual "English" things like country gardens, meant I knew I was never on English soil watching this. I was IN Russia, and the accents just felt natural and normal and never took me away from the feeling I was in Russia. Whereas if they'd had Russian accents or French accents, it would have probably sounded very odd and unnatural and taken me out of the story. It's in English, so they spoke with English accents, which was "normal" for them, but speaking English in a foreign accent when it's meant to be their own language just doesn't fit.
In fact, the French characters speaking in English with French accents was a little odd, but I think they did that to show they were different to the Russians and didn't want long dialogue in subtitles.
And I personally hate subtitles. I know I shouldn't admit it, as I feel on here most regard this as a sign of stupidity and think it's lasiness, but for me,I just find them too distracting. I'm too busy reading what people are saying and I'm not watching. For me, the whole point of a TV/film adaption is the visuals and the sound. That you can condense several paragraphs with one look or smile or tone of voice. That the mood of the scene can be shown by the lighting, the landscapes and sets and the music - not by lines and lines of description. I love reading too, but it's the visuals/sounds that make TV/Film different and special in it's own way. So if I'm busy reading the subtitles, I can't be watching or hearing what's going on with as much attention, so inevitably, I will miss things. And I don't like feeling as if I'm missing something. It also takes me out of the story. With a book, you read the whole time and visulise it in your mind, with TV, you watch and listen the whole time, but doing both, just doesn't work for me. I don't mind some subtitles, but I just struggle to get into a story that's all subtitles - I just don't feel as involved with the story as I would otherwise be.
So I think having the actors with English accents is by far the lesser of three evils.
But as for the English feel to it, again, whilst I think it's inevitable, I think it's far better to still make adaptions from other cultures and introduce a story to a wider audience than just say War and Peace can only be adapted by the Russians, or Les Miserables by the French. And even then, there is still the inevitable "modern" feel of adaptions - it's just as impossible I think to adapt a story written over a hundred years ago and not project (accidentally) your own modern views on things!
And I wonder if it might have added to one of the themes of the story any way. I haven't read the book yet, but it definitely felt from this version that one of the issues being addressed was that the Russian aristocrats were very different to the rest of Russian. They weren't really "Russian" any more and some scenes showed the characters coming back to their Russian roots, like when Natasha learnt the proper way of dancing.
Anyway, I think the story could have been made less "English", although some is definitely inevitable and it does help widen the audience. But I definitely think sticking with English with an English accent is the lesser of the evils!
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