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| Friday, October 21, 2011 03:07 PM |
| On the Viewer - Gormenghast |
 by Fëanor |
Even while I was reading Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels (hit the Gormenghast tag for my reviews), I was imagining what a film adaptation would look like. They are very visual, and full of incredible descriptions. I imagined Terrence Malick's slow, dreamy, thoughtful, visually stunning style to be the perfect match as far as director was concerned. The BBC did a miniseries adaptation in 2000 (not directed by Malick, sadly) that I knew I'd have to watch, even though I heard bad things about it. Christopher "Dracula" Lee appears as the Earl's manservant, Flay; Richard "Mr. Dursley" Griffiths plays the hideous, fat cook, Swelter; Jonathan "Rhys" Meyers plays the scheming rebel, Steerpike; and Stephen "Mycroft" Fry eventually shows up as the ridiculous Professor Bellgrove. Of the four episodes, I've only been able to make myself sit through one and a half. Could be the state of mind I'm currently in, but I'm finding it just a little too weird, depressing, and over-the-top to sit through. To be fair, the books are also weird, depressing, and over-the-top, so I feel like it's a pretty accurate adaptation. It's hurt a bit by what was obviously a very low effects budget, and by the limited time they had in which to tell the story. The books move at a slow, stately, almost glacial pace, and take their time creating atmosphere and really pushing you down inside Gormenghast until you feel like you live there. By contrast the show's pace is breakneck. I figure the hour and a half I've watched so far must have covered hundreds of pages of text.
I will have to pick it up again at some point, when I'm in a better mood, if only to get to the part with Stephen Fry in it. |
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