Our Mutual Friend

Our Mutual Friend Review

"Our Mutual Friend" is an adaptation of Dickens' last novel, arguably one of his best. The book was filled with compelling insights and social commentary which has been well-translated in this adaptation. Through the two main love stories, one gains a deeper understanding of the hypocrisy of the upper classes and of the unbearably stuffy conventions and etiquette of the time, all of which revolve around the class divisions between the lower and upper classes. Bella Wilfer (Anna Friel) is prepared to accept a marriage of convenience, to John Harmon (Steven Mackintosh) after he returns from a long stay abroad, for the sake of money and status in society. When John Harmon is found dead, a result of drowning in the river Thames, Bella's future takes a different turn - she ends up marrying John Rokesmith, a lowly secretary, but it is a marriage out of love this time around. There are some dark secrets in this story, a sort of mystery that unravels over a period of time.

Then there is the story of Eugene Wrayburn (Paul McGann) who though poor is of noble birth. Eugene falls for young Lizzie Hexam (a very young Keeley Hawes, one of my favorite period actors, who has been in Wives and Daughters, Under the Greenwood Tree, and The Moonstone, among others). This romance too crosses social divisions, as young Lizzie's father drags corpses out of the River Thames for a living. The social criticism inherent in Dickens' novel is starkly and credibly portrayed in this adaptation and the cast does an excellent job in bringing this story vividly to life. An excellent adaptation that would have done Dickens' himself proud.

Our Mutual Friend Overview

Critically acclaimed as Dickens' crowning achievement, this sweeping tale of two turbulent love affairs plays out amidst a tangled web of wealth, corruption, passion and betrayal in 1860s London.

Our Mutual Friend Specifications

One of Charles Dickens' darkest yet also most romantic novels gets a lavish treatment in this BBC mini-series of Our Mutual Friend. The heir to a great fortune made from the garbage business is drowned--and his death affects everyone. His father's manager, Noddy Boffin (Peter Vaughan, Brazil), gets the money, to the alarm of snooty society. The man who pulled the heir's body out of the Thames is accused of his murder; his daughter, Lizzie Hexam (Keeley Hawes, Tipping the Velvet), finds herself pursued by both an idle gentleman (Paul McGann, Withnail & I) and an obsessed, violent schoolteacher (David Morrissey, Basic Instinct 2). The heir's intended bride, Bella Wilfer (Anna Friel, Me Without You, gets socially adopted by the Boffins, where she succumbs to the lure of money above all and spurns the interest of a mysterious stranger (Steven Mackintosh, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels). The plot creeps up and down London society like a tenacious plant, twining around a pair of golddiggers who mistakenly married each other and a heartsick bone merchant named Mr. Venus (Timothy Spall, Secrets & Lies). This excellent adaptation moves with aggressive speed, drawing the viewer into the grimy worlds of the riverside and the dust heaps and the glittering, gossiping parties of the rich. Our Mutual Friend balances one of Dickens' most entrancing love stories with his creepiest gothic turns--it's a rich stew of characters both earnest and vile, made with sumptuous production values and movie-quality cinematography. --Bret Fetzer

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