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Yesterday's mail brought a DVD of the recent movie "Mr Malcolm's List". We'd seen previews of it -- Regency-era Austen-style romance, with several PoC major characters -- but hadn't heard much buzz. So we watched it last night.
It's not "Belle", about a (historically documented) black heiress in early-19th-century England, in which her race is a major plot driver. In fact, race isn't mentioned at all: you could have changed the race of any or all characters, and except for one line it would have had no effect on the script or plot. This is a standard-issue Austen-style romance set in an alternate Regency England that's truly race-blind. (I gather that's also the theory behind "Bridgerton", which neither of us has seen.)
So, that romance plot... it has elements of "Midsummer Night's Dream", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Emma". Comfortable-gentry Julia goes on an opera date with Mr Malcolm, the most eligible bachelor in London, there's no chemistry or shared interests, there's no second date, and the gossip mill prints -- and circulates widely -- a caricature showing him finding her inadequate and jilting her. She's publicly humiliated (on a sensitive subject, as she's already in her fourth season "out" without finding a husband, and verging on spinsterhood). Her cousin Cassidy is Mr Malcolm's best friend, so she asks him what went wrong, and he reports that Mr Malcolm has drawn up a list of qualifications for a prospective spouse, qualifications that Julia failed to meet. Julia is now even more angry and humiliated, and vows revenge by crafting a woman to exactly Malcolm's specifications, then having that woman reject him for failing to meet her list of qualifications. But she needs to find a woman Malcolm hasn't met who can play that role. Enter Julia's impoverished but sweet childhood friend Selene, who reluctantly goes along with the devious scheme. As anybody who's read Shakespeare, Austen, or commedia dell'arte could predict, Malcolm and Selene fall sincerely in love with one another; things go badly when Malcolm discovers the scheme; and everything is patched up in the end.
I noticed as the credits ran that the director, most of the producers, the scriptwriter, and the author of the book on which it's based were all women (in addition to the more-commonly-female movie-making jobs like casting, visual design, costume, etc.)
The acting is good throughout, by a cast most of whom I'd never heard of except the gorgeous Theo James, who played ambiguous love-interest Sidney in "Sanditon" and the Turkish diplomat who died seducing Lady Mary in the first season of "Downton Abbey". I guess my only complaint about the acting (and/or editing) is that Julia could have been a less transparent and more sympathetic malefactor, which would have made it more plausible when Theo James's character, Captain Ossory, falls in love with her. I don't know enough about Regency-era costume to comment on it. The dance scenes include the usual Regency-romance line-dances, as well as some anachronistic waltzing. OTOH, the opera appears to be "The Barber of Seville", written in 1816, so having it performed in London in 1818 is quite plausible.
It's not "Belle", about a (historically documented) black heiress in early-19th-century England, in which her race is a major plot driver. In fact, race isn't mentioned at all: you could have changed the race of any or all characters, and except for one line it would have had no effect on the script or plot. This is a standard-issue Austen-style romance set in an alternate Regency England that's truly race-blind. (I gather that's also the theory behind "Bridgerton", which neither of us has seen.)
So, that romance plot... it has elements of "Midsummer Night's Dream", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Emma". Comfortable-gentry Julia goes on an opera date with Mr Malcolm, the most eligible bachelor in London, there's no chemistry or shared interests, there's no second date, and the gossip mill prints -- and circulates widely -- a caricature showing him finding her inadequate and jilting her. She's publicly humiliated (on a sensitive subject, as she's already in her fourth season "out" without finding a husband, and verging on spinsterhood). Her cousin Cassidy is Mr Malcolm's best friend, so she asks him what went wrong, and he reports that Mr Malcolm has drawn up a list of qualifications for a prospective spouse, qualifications that Julia failed to meet. Julia is now even more angry and humiliated, and vows revenge by crafting a woman to exactly Malcolm's specifications, then having that woman reject him for failing to meet her list of qualifications. But she needs to find a woman Malcolm hasn't met who can play that role. Enter Julia's impoverished but sweet childhood friend Selene, who reluctantly goes along with the devious scheme. As anybody who's read Shakespeare, Austen, or commedia dell'arte could predict, Malcolm and Selene fall sincerely in love with one another; things go badly when Malcolm discovers the scheme; and everything is patched up in the end.
I noticed as the credits ran that the director, most of the producers, the scriptwriter, and the author of the book on which it's based were all women (in addition to the more-commonly-female movie-making jobs like casting, visual design, costume, etc.)
The acting is good throughout, by a cast most of whom I'd never heard of except the gorgeous Theo James, who played ambiguous love-interest Sidney in "Sanditon" and the Turkish diplomat who died seducing Lady Mary in the first season of "Downton Abbey". I guess my only complaint about the acting (and/or editing) is that Julia could have been a less transparent and more sympathetic malefactor, which would have made it more plausible when Theo James's character, Captain Ossory, falls in love with her. I don't know enough about Regency-era costume to comment on it. The dance scenes include the usual Regency-romance line-dances, as well as some anachronistic waltzing. OTOH, the opera appears to be "The Barber of Seville", written in 1816, so having it performed in London in 1818 is quite plausible.
