Little Dorrit

Variety ^ | March 26, 2009 | Brian Lowry

[La Lydia]

Writer Andrew Davies applied his quill pen to adapting a number of Jane Austen novels before tackling Charles Dickens' "Bleak House," and he's back with another sprawling, impeccably cast PBS miniseries, "Little Dorrit." This Dickens tale includes mystery, romance and dramatically shifting financial fortunes...Slow going at first and rushed near the end, it's nevertheless an absorbing piece of work, reminding us that there are certain things the Brits simply do better...the story exposes harsh class distinctions in the early 19th century, as well as shadowy financial doings, blackmail and even a big heartless bureaucracy,,,,

Driving the action is Arthur Clennam ("Frost/Nixon's" Matthew Macfadyen), who returns from several years abroad with a vague deathbed admonition from his father to "Put it right." Arthur's imperious mother (the wonderful Judy Parfitt), begins to employ a poor seamstress, Amy Dorrit (Claire Foy), who has grown up in debtor's prison, where her addled father William (Tom Courtenay) has been held for more than 20 years. Clearly, Mrs. Clennam is hiding secrets of her family's past, and Arthur is determined to uncover them....

...The teeming cast also includes Andy Serkis under a Cyrano nose as Rigaud, a murderous French blackmailer with a Pepe Le Pew accent; and Alun Armstrong as Mrs. Clennam's beady-eyed attendant.

Perhaps the biggest wrinkle from Davies -- who has a reputation for tarting up Victorian material -- involves the mysterious Miss Wade (Maxine Peake), whose plotting with Rigaud also includes several scenes that strongly imply she's a lesbian.

.... there's so much gaudy talent on display here that those with an appetite for it won't be able to get enough, and "Little Dorrit" gives them everything they could want in a big, gloriously messy package.

[La Lydia]

Okay, I sit down Sunday night with my hot cocoa and popcorn to submerge myself in one of my favorite Dickens' novels, Little Dorritt, expecting a cozy, understandable-values story with a great plot and memorable characters like Flintwitch, and the Circumlocution Department, which must have inspired Kafka. Everything is going fine the first several minutes, until we get to Miss Wade, who, when I read this book, was not a raving lesbian set on luring away and seducing Tatttcoram. Very maddening, I can't even sit down to watch Masterpiece theater without having someone's sexual agenda pushed during a dramatization of Dickens. And these weren't "strong implications," as the reviewer writes. There was simply no other way to take it. Dickens is fabulous. Why can't they leave well enough alone.

[JoeProBono]

Miss Dorrit and Little Dorrit by Phiz (Halbot K. Browne). Illustration for Charles Dickens's Little Dorrit, 1855.

[squarebarb]

I never did understand the family secret.

And it seemed to me that Miss Wade was indeed a lesbian in the story though of course Dickens wasn’t explicit about it.

[La Lydia]

Maybe I was young and naive when I read it, but the lesbian part never crossed my mind. But I read it again as an adult and still didn’t get the hint. I can’t imagine Dickens sitting down to write about lesbians. I can’t imagine him even hinting at it. I supposed, reading it through the lense of the late 20 century, with an active imagination, it might be taken that way, but I am confident he didn’t mean it that way.

[skr]

I watched Little Dorrit and only saw a woman who may be a procurer for the sex-slave trade. Lesbianism didn’t even enter my mind. I have yet to read the book so don’t know how the actual character should be played. What is Miss Wade’s role in the book?

[JoeProBono]

[La Lydia]

That would be telling. In the book, it is a subplot.

[Tarheel]

Both of our local PBS stations have been running a beg-a-thon so our Masterpiece Theater is a week behind. We finished the second episode of David Copperfield last night.

I always thought that a Christmas Carol was not Dickens best work but it is the one most people associate with Dickens. His commentaries on the seamy side of life are relevant today. Just how far have progressed in 150+ years? I am anxious to see Doritt, one of my favorites.

[12Gauge687]

I have noticed that with the remakes (as well as the original television productions) of Agatha Chritie’s Miss Marple novels.

[La Lydia]

Our begathons ( we have 3 PBS stations here) seem to be continuous. One of them just ended, one continues, and the third one just started. Why they think people are going to give them money to see the same “specials” time after time is beyond me. Last week they had Pete Seeger on for what must have been the 100th time.

[mountainfolk]

If Direct TV had an all British channel we would sure try it for awhile. We have gotten several English period movies lately and are listening to an early P.D. James audio while driving. It is getting really hard to find good American novels or movies. The TV shows are so larded with homosexual, in your face, characters and scenes that my resentment overcomes my interest in an otherwise decent performance or script. The lesbian overtures of Miss Wade were unmistakable. Last nite was a treat with Little Dorritt and I hope it is on next Sunday, PBS 9 to 11 CST.
First time I have watched PBS in ages. They just said see you next time.

[La Lydia]

I get BBC-America on Comcast. A lot of it is dreck. But every once and a while they really come through. On Saturday nights they are running a crime series called Ashes to Ashes, which is superb. It is the spin-of from one called Life on Mars which was also excellent. When they “imported” Life of Mars here and made it in Hollywood, they totally missed the target. And of course, you can’t go wrong with Dr. Who. But I think that one is all re-runs now.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

nd it seemed to me that Miss Wade was indeed a lesbian in the story though of course Dickens wasn’t explicit about it.

There is not a chance that Dickens would have written a lesbian character in one of his books. Anyone who thinks that is simply not thinking in proper Victorian terms, and Dickens's writings were very proper in sexual matters.

[bimboeruption]

Why can't they leave well enough alone.

Because they are reprobates, pushing a perverted way of life on people who don't know any better.

Dickens has been my favortite author since reading Great Expectations in the 7th grade.

I've read his novels many times and I know for a fact that he NEVER introduced a homosexual or a lesbian character.

Who next? Will Peggotty be portrayed as a lesbian because she loved Clara Copperfield?

How about Ada Clare and Esther Summerson? They loved eachother too. I could go on and on.

Leave it to the libs to distort his wonderful works. Mr. Dickens is whirring in his grave.

[Borges]

Finding gay themes in classic literature is a major academic field.