As the COVID-19 self isolation continues, we’re here to help you while away the long hours with some suggestions for art-related entertainment.
In Movie MAGic, we review films and TV with art or artist-related themes from Hollywood biopics to foreign art house movies, and rate them for you with our own Visitor Services scale of difficulty;
EASY : Straight forward plot, easy to follow and entertaining. Requires little thought. Sunday afternoon, stuff. Starring actors you’ve probably heard of. Definitely no subtitles.
MODERATE : Nothing too scary, possibility of subtitles, but still a straight forward, average length film; no explosions or car chases, but a high chance of intense emotional grimacing and moody silences. Might possibly be in black and white, which could just mean that it’s old rather than arty.
DIFFICULT : Might have a challenging length, non-linear story structure, avant-garde cinematography or mature themes (sexuality, nudity, etc). High probability of subtitles. Afterwards, you’ll feel like you’ve earned a good stiff drink, or a box set binge of light comedy to cheer yourself up.
DESPERATE ROMANTICS (2010)
Starring: Aidan Turner (him from Being Human, The Hobbit and Poldark)
Samuel Barnett (him from The History Boys, Penny Dreadful)
Rafe Spall (him from The War of the Worlds and Men in Black International)
Sam Crane (him from Poldark, The Trial of Christine Keeler)
Tom Hollander (him from the Rev, The Night Manager, Bohemian Rhapsody)
Amy Mason (her from Atlantis, The White Princess, Being Human)
Zoe Tapper (her from Mr Selfridge, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky)
Jennie Jacques (her from Vikings, WPC 56)
Written by: Peter Bowker
Directed by: Paul Gay, Diarmuid Lawrence
Running time: 6 x 52mins
Desperate Romantics is the story of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, based loosely on Fanny Moyle’s book ‘Desperate Romantics: The Private Lives of the Pre-Raphaelites’. It follows the lives and loves of three men, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, who together would become one of Britain’s most important art movements, and explores their complicated relationships while searching for the ever elusive muse.
Samuel Barnett, Sam Crane, Aiden Turner, Rafe Spall © BBC
Made at a time when it was the fashion to sex-up historical TV dramas, I think it’s safe to say, that if you’re a Pre-Raphaelite purist you probably aren’t going to like this one, as the series plays fast and loose with history. Although, to be fair, it is upfront about that in the opening titles. However, if you’re in the mood for a fun, historic romp with a jaunty theme tune, that’s more relationship drama than art documentary, then this is for you.
Turner is rakish as the good-looking but professionally thwarted Rossetti; Barnett brings a naïve charm to child prodigy Millais, while Spall brings a pent-up frustration to a morally conflicted Holman Hunt and Hollander’s Ruskin treads a fine line, but manages to bring some emotional depth to the part. The portrayal of the women concentrates on Lizzie Siddal, Annie Miller and Fanny Cornforth, the “stunners” of Pre-Raphaelite legend. Other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Sisters (and indeed the Brotherhood) are conveniently sidelined or completely absent.
However, the narrator, Fred Walters, is a fictional character; a combination of several real-life people such as Fred Stevens and Walter Deverell, two lesser known members of the PRB, along with a dash of William Michael Rossetti (Dante’s brother). His creation allows us, as viewer, entry into the world of the Brotherhood. Although, with the presence of Aiden Turner and Samuel Barnett’s floppy haircut, it could just as well be entitled A Fellowship of Randy Hobbits goes Painting, with Rafe Spall’s bearded Holman Hunt as the token dwarf, Tom Hollander’s John Ruskin in the Gandalf role and the various red-haired muses as otherworldly Elves. “All shall love me and despair!”
You could be forgiven for thinking that the incidents shown in the series all happened over a short space of time as nobody ever ages, when they actually occurred over the span of a couple of decades. But, hey, at least the show never bothers with that old art movie cliché of attempting to cram tableau homages of paintings into the camera shots, and yes, Aiden Turner does get his kit off, all right? Happy now?
On the whole it’s good fun, but you won’t learn too much about the paintings themselves here as it really is the private lives of the Brotherhood that are the focus of the drama. And while Peter Bowker’s screenplay has taken quite a few liberties with Moyle’s book, (which in itself is an interesting read and far from dry), you do get the edited highlights.
If all this intrigues you, and you want to know a little more, you could do worse than explore our own Pre-Raphaelite collection online (eat your heart out Andrew Lloyd Webber).
VS Verdict: EASY (but with some nudity)
Desperate Romantics is currently available on Amazon Prime.