Drama > Universal Drama > 5 GBP to 10 GBP

Advantages: Beautiful scenery, casting and costume
Disadvantages: None that I can see

Elizabeth Gaskell's novel, 'Wives and Daughters', is a powerful story of love, friendship and family, in which the heroine, Molly Gibson, has to cope with the remarriage of her beloved father to a woman who cares for more status than anything else, and the introduction of her new beautiful stepsister Cynthia. Against all odds, including Cynthia's instant overshadowing of the gentle Molly, Molly and Cynthia form a bond. However, their relationship ...
...Roger Hamley, the local squire's son. Just as Cynthia seems to be winning, it is revealed that she is not all that she seems... The BBC dramatisation of the novel is beautiful; from hair and make up to scenery and direction. It boasts fine performances from the likes of Francesca Annis as Mrs Gibson, Michael Gambon as Squire Hamley, Bill Paterson as Mr Gibson, Keeley Hawes as the beautiful but flighty Cynthia - and, of course, Justine Waddell as ... Read review

Advantages: Great acting and characterisation
Disadvantages: Some wooden performances from child actors

...mother's sister, Lady Bertram, at Mansfield Park. Sensitive and shy, Fanny misses her family terribly, all the more so because her cousins, Maria and Julia, look down on her. Luckily, cousin Edmund takes care of her and she soon becomes part of the family, although always aware of her lowly position. She soon comes to care for Edmund, but his heart is won by another woman - Miss Mary Crawford - whose rascally brother, Henry, eventually falls in love ...
...always enjoyed her work and Mansfield Park, the story of a woman determined to hold out for what she wants, is one of my favourite Austen novels. It has been televised more than once; the most recent version starring Billie Piper as Fanny and shown last Christmas. The version that I am reviewing is the 1983 version, which was shown on television as a mini-series, and is very faithful to the original story. Sylvestra Le Touzel is absolutely perfect ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic film that might have passed you by
Disadvantages: may cause swooning

...U, nothing offensive here! Persuasion won the National Review Board's Best Picture award in 1995. * A side note, I am pretty sure "Persuasion" was largely the plot "inspiration" for the second Bridget Jones installment (more noticeable in the book as the film chopped it to pieces), if anyone wants to compare. (Pride & Prejudice is more obviously recognised as the inspiration for Bridget Jones' Diary down to Mark Darcy). This is clear in Bridget ... Read review

Advantages: different story
Disadvantages: bit boring

Armaan means dream in Hindi. It is a Honey Irani film and lasts 2½ hours. Its a complicated love triangle and story of one mans struggle to fulfil his fathers dream and his own future happiness with the woman he truly does loves. It is not a choice many men would want to make without much thought and deliberations. This film is quite different from regular Bollywood films. It is a story of a doctor Akash Sharma (Anil Kapoor) whose father Dr Siddharth ...
...(Gracy Singh) also works at this hospital and she and Dr Akash fall in love. Then comes Soniya Kapoor (Preity Zinta), the spoilt young daughter of a very rich man who sees Dr Akash and wants him. She asks her father to set up her marriage to him but even as Dr Sharma Snr needs money for the hospital he does not agree to the marriage proposal. Suddenly he dies of a heart attack and Dr Akash has no choice but to marry the spoilt Soniya who he does ... Read review

Advantages: It's picturesque and beautiful, with brilliant music
Disadvantages: It's just quite slow and not much happens

La Gloire De Mon Pere (The Glory Of My Father) is one of the most famous and celebrated French films… well, ever. It's written by Marcel Pagnol, who also wrote Jean De Florette and Manon Des Sources, and it tells of his own childhood memoirs, focusing on a family holiday in the Provence countryside. This film also has a sequel called Le Chateau De Ma Mere (The Castle Of My Mother). Basically, the film starts with the birth of Marcel, sometime at ...
...niceness and cheesy sentimentalism, and La Gloire De Mon Pere sometimes finds itself on the wrong side - only occasionally, but still enough to slightly disrupt what is otherwise a good film. I suppose the early 1900s period setting means that the family unit is bound to be a happy, respectful one, but the two women do come out with the odd twee line about how beautiful the countryside is. The cinematography is stunning, from the opening mountain ... Read review