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| Matthew Macfadyen and Hayley Atwell in Any Human Heart |
I have been lucky enough to see a preview of the first of three episodes of Any Human Heart, premiering on PBS this coming Sunday night, Feb 13, 2011. It is
very good!
This adaptation of a fairly recent novel by William Boyd can probably best be explained as a life in flashbacks. It starts out showing the main character, writer Logan Mountstuart, as an old man (the lovely Jim Broadbent). He is living in a villa in the South of France with piles of books, photos and boxes of journals detailing his very interesting life all around him. As he sorts through these memories, we get to relive his life with him.
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| Matthew Macfadyen, Jim Broadbent and Sam Claflin as the three phases of Logan Mountstuart |
As he travels through his past, starting not at his birth in the exotic sounding Montevideo Uruguay, but as a student at Oxford in 1926, we get to know him through his journal.
"I, Logan Mountstuart, do solemnly declare that in this my final year at Oxford, I will lose my virginity." Needless to say, this one has a warning about explicit content right at the beginning. We get to see the loves of his life (in and out of bed) and as well as having the great good fortune to encounter many stunningly gorgeous women, he also stumbles across many famous people. Made me really think of a smarter, English Forest Gump to be honest. Not that that is a bad thing. It certainly adds spice to the story to have Logan hanging out with Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming and The Duke and Duchess of Windsor (played to a tee by Tom Hollander and Gillian Anderson).
Well, I won't say any more other than that I think this is a wonderful addition to the Masterpiece lineup this winter and I look forward to seeing the next two episodes to see what else Logan Gump gets up to in his travels through the 20th century.
I hadn't planned on watching this because I didn't recognize the title, but you've convinced me--looks good! I like the format of flashbacks--worked in Water for Elephants and I think it will work well here.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it. I'm going to watch it again on Sunday in HD on the big screen!
I'm glad it goes for 3 weeks as I love watching these type of shows on PBS after dinner on a Sunday. Then in April we have the new Upstairs Downstairs. Then it's spring!
I'm looking forward to this as well.
ReplyDeleteBBC-ONE GIANT RUN OF PART SERIES MOVIES. In Austin Texas, I can`t wait to see them all!! Downton Abbey has been my heart with the other heart series coming up at second!! At 64, I just started to learn computers. With my Telly and now computer technology, I am very happy! Thanks for the entertainment!!! Please keep up the great work!!
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I am very much looking forward to the next two installments. Something about Ian Fleming getting him into spying in WWII and being captured as a prisoner of war.
ReplyDeleteAnd to ANONYMOUS, I am so glad that you are enjoying the current PBS season as much as I am. The BBC and now ITV (which did Downton Abbey) are really fulfilling our viewing needs, although we could always use more. And computers bring us together and let us share all the great info out there too! Cheers!
By the way, stay tuned for Upstairs Downstairs in April and South Riding in May. And on March 27th, they are replaying 39 Steps with Rupert Penry-Jones, which I missed the first time around. It looks good too.