My knowledge of 19th century author, Anthony Trollope, can be described as
rather skimpy. In fact, I have never read any of his works. But the 2004 BBC
adaptation of his 1869 novel, ”He Knew He Was Right”, caught my interest
and I decided to watch the four-part miniseries.
”HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT" told the decline and fall of a wealthy gentleman named Louis
Trevelyan (Oliver Dimsdale) and his marriage to the elder daughter of a British
Colonial administrator named Sir Marmaduke Rowley (Geoffrey Palmer) during the
late 1860s. Louis first met the spirited Emily Rowley (Laura Fraser) during a
trip to the fictional Mandarin Islands. Their marriage began on a happy note and
managed to produce one son, young Louis. But when Emily’s godfather, the rakish
Colonel Osborne (Bill Nighy), began paying consistent visits to her, the house
of cards for the Trevelyan marriage began to fall. Doubts about his wife’s
fidelity formed clouds in Louis’ mind upon learning about Osborne’s reputation
as a ladies’ man. His insistence that Emily put an end to Osborne’s visits,
along with her stubborn opposition to his demands and outrage over his lack of
trust finally led to a serious break in their marriage. What followed was a
minor public over their estrangement, a change of addresses for both husband and
wife, Louis’ kidnapping of their son and his final descent into paranoia and
madness.
The miniseries also featured several subplots. One centred
around the forbidden romance between Emily’s younger sister, Nora (Christina
Cole), and a young journalist named Hugh Stansbury (Stephen Campbell Moore), who
happened to be Louis’ closest friend. Another featured the efforts of Hugh’s
wealthy Aunt Jemima Stansbury (Anna Massey) to pair his younger sister Dorothy
(Caroline Martin) to a local vicar in Wells named Reverend Gibson (David
Tennant). Unfortunately for Aunt Stansbury, her desires for a romance between
Dorothy and Reverend Gibson ended with Dorothy’s rejection of him and his lies
about her moral character. Later, Dorothy and Aunt Stansbury found themselves at
odds over Dorothy’s friendship and burgeoning romance with the nephew of her old
love, Brooke Burgess (Matthew Goode). Gibson found himself in hot water with the
socially powerful Aunt Stansbury over his lies about Dorothy. But that was
nothing in compare to his being the centre of a bitter sibling rivalry between
two sisters, Arabella and Camilla French (Fenella Woolgar and Claudie Blakley).
One last subplot evolved from Nora Rowley’s rejection of a wealthy aristocrat
named Mr. Glascock (Raymond Coulthard). While travelling through Italy, he became
acquainted with Caroline Spalding (Anna-Louise Plowman), one of two daughters of
an American diplomat; and began a romance with her.
For me, the best aspect of ”HE
KNEW HE WAS RIGHT” proved to be the main plot about the Treveylan marriage.
I found the Louis and Emily’s story to be fascinating and well
written. When their marriage ended in separation at the end of Episode One, I
wondered if Davies had rushed the story. Foolish me. I never realized that the
separation would lead toward a slow journey into madness for Louis and one of
frustration and resentment for Emily. Her resentment increased tenfold after
Louis kidnapped their young son, Little Louis; and upon her discovery that as a
woman, she did not have the law on her side on who would be considered as the
boy’s legal guardian. For me, the most surprising aspect of ”HE KNEW HE WAS
RIGHT” was that despite all of the hell Louis forced Emily to endure, I
ended up feeling very sorry for him. Due to his own insecurities over Colonel
Osborne’s attentions to Emily and her strength of character, Louis ended up
enduring a great deal of his own hell.
Another aspect I found rather
interesting about ”HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT” was the topic of power abuse
that permeated the tale. Many film and literary critics have used the Louis
Trevelyan character as an argument that the story’s main theme was the abuse of
paternal or male power. I heartily agree with that argument. To a certain
extent. After all, Louis’ hang-ups regarding Emily’s relationship with Colonel
Osborne seemed to be centres around her unwillingness to blindly obey him or
his fear that he may not be enough of a man for her. And Sir Marmaduke’s
insistence that Nora dismiss the idea of marrying the penniless Hugh Stanbury
for a wealthier gentleman – namely Mr. Glascock. But the miniseries also touched
upon examples of matriarchy or female abuse of power – something that most
critics or fans hardly ever mention. Jemima Stanbury’s position as the
Stanburys’ matriarch and only wealthy family member gave her the belief she had
the power to rule over the lives of her family. This especially seemed to be the
case in her efforts to control Dorothy’s love life. Camilla French struck me as
another female who used her position as Reverend French’s fiancée to abuse it –
especially in her aggressive attempts to ensure that he would give in to her
desires and demands. And when that failed, she used her anger and threats of
violence to ensure that her sister Arabella did not win in their rivalry over
the spineless vicar. Some would say that Camilla was merely indulging in
masculine behaviour. I would not agree. For I believe that both men and women –
being human beings – are capable of violence. For me, aggression is a
human trait and not associated with one particular gender. In the end,
both Sir Marmaduke and Aunt Stanbury relented to the desires of their loved
ones. Camilla had no choice but to relent to Arabella’s victory in their race to
become Reverend Gibson’s wife, thanks to her mother and uncle’s intervention. As
for Louis, he continued to believe he was right about Emily and Colonel Osborne
. . . at least right before the bitter end.
Oliver Dimsdale proved to be
the right actor to portray the complex and tragic Louis Trevelyan. He could have
easily portrayed Louis as an unsympathetic and one-note figure of patriarchy.
Instead, Dimsdale skillfully conveyed all of Louis’ faults and insecurities; and
at the same time, left me feeling sympathetic toward the character. Dimsdale’s
Louis was not a monster, but a flawed man who believed he could control
everything and especially everyone in his life. And this trait proved to be his
Achilles heel. But despite my sympathies toward him, I could never accept the
righteousness of Louis’ behaviour. And the main reason proved to be Laura
Fraser’s portrayal of the high-spirited and stubborn Emily Rowley Trevelyan. One
could say that Emily should have conceded to her husband’s wishes. As the spouse
of a pre-20th century male, one would expect her to. I could point out that she
did concede to Louis’ wishes – while protesting along the way. And Fraser not
only did a marvellous job with Emily’s strong will and stubbornness, but also
anger at Louis’ paternalism. Amazingly, she also effectively portrayed Emily’s
continuing love for Louis and doubts over the character’s actions with a great
deal of plausibility. This last trait was especially apparent in Emily’s
conversations with Hugh Stanbury’s sister, Priscilla, in Episode Two. And both
Dimsdale and Fraser created a strong and credible screen chemistry, despite
their characters’ flaws, mistakes and conflicts.
Another reason I managed
to enjoy ”HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT” turned out to be the solid performances
by the supporting cast. However, several performances stood out for me. Three
came from veteran performers such as Bill Nighy, Anna Massey and Ron Cook.
Nighy, ever the chameleon, gave a great performance as the mischievous and
rakish Colonel Osborne; who proved to be something of a blustering phony in the
end. Anna Massey gave a wonderful and entertaining portrayal as the wealthy
matriarch of the Stanbury family, Jemima Stanbury. Despite being a tyrannical
and no-nonsense woman, Massey’s Aunt Stanbury also proved to be a like able and
vulnerable individual. And Cook did a marvellous job in portraying Mr. Nozzle as
more than just a study in one-dimensional seediness. Cook aptly conveyed the
private detective’s conflict between his greedy desire for Louis’ business and
his sympathy toward Emily’s plight.
The second trio of performances that
impressed me came from David Tennant, Fenella Woolgar and Claudie Blakley, who
portrayed the Reverend Gibson and the French sisters. Tennant gave a hilarious performance as the
avaricious vicar with a spine made from gelatin. Both Woolgar and Blakley were
equally funny as the two sisters battling for his affections . . . or at least a
marriage proposal. Blakley also seemed a tad frightening, as she delved into
Camilla’s aggressive and homicidal determination to prevent Mr. Gibson from
returning his “affections” to the more mild-tempered and manipulative
Arabella.
In conclusion, I found "HE KNEW HE WAS
RIGHT" to be a first-rate adaptation of Anthony Trollope’s novel. I must
admit that all of the plot lines proved to be interesting. And Tom Vaughn’s
direction, along with a first-rate cast led by Oliver Dimsdale and Laura Fraser,
"HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT" proved to be a literary adaptation worth watching. :) xx
