Fell off the horse -- LOL!
I laughed out loud when he fell off that horse and hit his head! Served the curmudgeon right for the way he treated his daughter. Old-ass coot!
shareIt was a funny moment, all right, but it makes old Prince Bolkonsky look like a clown. In the book he was much more formidable and his death was tragic.
"We're all gonna die up here, Spock!" James T. Kirk
Even without that silly scene, I thought Jim Broadbent was badly miscast in the role. He's a fine actor but there's something ineradicably cosy about him; and if there's one thing Prince Bolkonsky is not, it's cosy.
shareQuite so. Broadbent makes Bolkonsky into a quaintly eccentric Colonel Blimp figure.
Call me Ishmael...
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I thought he was fine, perfect, and matched the book well. I haven't seen any other W&P adaptations except the Hepburn/Fonda (and if the character is even in that I don't recall), so I have no screen version to compare him to, but I thought Broadbent was very mean in this version. I hadn't seen anything previously with Broadbent, so I'm wondering if you are bringing old associations with him to your viewing. In the book he is not completely one-sided; as in this miniseries he is quite pleased when Marya doesn't choose to marry Anatole, and he shows her affection then ....
Also, I didn't find him falling off his horse "funny", any more than I found Petya falling off his horse "funny". Not sure why someone dying would be funny.
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Well I certainly can't rule out the possibility that I am bringing in some old associations, but that goes with the territory when you cast a known actor in a role: they come with associations, and I'm afraid Boradbent did nothing to dispel the "cosiness", as Syntinen described it.
Broadbent plays him as rude and mean alright, but for me its in a sort of huffing, English, curmudgeonly way. Have you seen Roger Livesey as Colonel Blimp?
The character in the book was a terrier - a tough, austere, severe man called "The Prussian". Perhaps Broadbent is simply too well-padded for me; I suspect I've always imagined the character to be more wiry and lean.
Call me Ishmael...
Even without that silly scene, I thought Jim Broadbent was badly miscast in the role. He's a fine actor but there's something ineradicably cosy about him; and if there's one thing Prince Bolkonsky is not, it's cosy.
share