The Real Charlotte (TV
mini-series)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C+ Episodes: C+
In Victorian-era Ireland, a battle in reaching the upper
classes unfolds in The Real Charlotte (1991), a four-part mini-series
about the title character (Jeananne Crowley), who is nice on the surface, but
will do anything to have money, power, and class status. She seems wonderful on the surface, but it
soon becomes apparent that she is going to hatch a brilliant scheme with a
privileged man (Patrick Bergen), who she may like more than she might want to
admit. She also intends to exploit the
lives of the younger to enjoy the rest of her middle-aged life.
The expectation is that this could have been a darkly
smart piece, even with the notation on the DVD box cover that this had been
shown on PBS’ Masterpiece Theater, but it sadly fell into the stereotype
of that long-running series of being too slow moving yet good-looking. It had the usual decent-for-TV acting, the
cast was cast well, and efforts were made to do a well-rounded adaptation of
the book by Somerville & Ross, but it just did not click.
I was not expecting Charlotte to be a Cousin Bette
role either, Jessica Lange notwithstanding, but the pacing was just not what it
could have been. Director Tony Barry
may have simply been too concerned in being faithful to the book without
considering how it translated.
The full-screen image is hazy, colors are not what they
should be, and it is hard to tell if this was shot on video and transferred to
film, or just taped. The locations are
fine, but then what do you expect form a production that made it onto
Masterpiece Theater. Like so many
feature films today, they can look good, but what do you have beyond the pretty
package? The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is
also nothing spectacular. Stereo had
still not totally kicked in yet for TV at this time. Extras include a brief look at the cast and a DVD-ROM section
that allows you to read the book which this TV production was based on.
There are those who might still want to see it, as an
example of an offshoot of the limited Irish productions that are taking place
and it is an item of study on that level.
Unless the slow-moving story-style is your cup of tea, The Real
Charlotte may simply not be real enough for you.
- Nicholas Sheffo
