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One of my plans now that I have Netflix is to watch movies or miniseries made from books I have read and enjoyed. Unless said movies got such abominable reviews that it's not worth watching them (i.e., the recent film and screen adaptation of Susan Cooper and Ursula K. LeGuin). So, having really loved the book, Other Kenjari and I watched "Remains of the Day" this weekend. It's an absolutely beautifully shot movie - picturesque English countryside, glorious and opulent manor house interiors. Everything looks warm, alive, and inviting. The acting was amazing, but that's no surprise in a cast that features Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, and Christopher Reeve. The movie is much more upfront about things that the book only implies, especially when it comes to Lord Darlington.

Book Review

Brief Gaudy Hour
by Margaret Campbell Barnes

This classic historical novel is about Anne Boleyn. Despite the fact that she is a popular subject for writers of historical fiction, I think this may be the first novel I have read in which she is the protagonist, surprisingly enough. Barnes is an extremely good writer, and convincingly conveys the feel and details of the era. I swear I could just about feel the velvets and brocades of the clothing and smell the candle wax and polished wood of Westminster and Hampton Court.
Brief Gaudy Hour focuses intensely on Anne's youth and rise to power, treating her downfall more as a denouement. Barnes has an interesting view of Anne Boleyn, taking a kind of middle way between romantic martyr and ambitious schemer. In this book, Anne's personal motivation for her rise to power is to gain a combination of revenge and recompense for the loss of her true love, Henry Percy, from whom she was parted by the ambitions of her family and the consequences of the king's desire for her. However, Anne does find Henry VIII genuinely attractive and interesting, making her feelings towards him and the course of their relationship complicated. I have no idea whether there is any truth to this version, but I thought it was a fascinating view of Anne Boleyn.