3 SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR TBW LIST

 

Mare of Easttown 

After reading several positive reviews, I've finally managed to watch Kate Winslet in her latest role as the lead of HBO's Mare of Easttown. Fortunately, it was available on Italian Sky channels. Have you seen it?

Coarse, stubborn, mercurial Mare Sheehan is a difficult character to like. Mare is a police woman, a complex, tough woman who reminded me of Sarah Lancashire’s character in BBC Happy Valley. Mare is played magnificently by Kate Winslet . What an amazing performance she delivers! The audience can perceive and relate to every ounce of regret, fear, shame and heartbreak on her face.

Though Mare of Easttown is probably not the most original TV series you will find on TV, Kate Winslet’s performance only is worth watching the 8-part show.

If you like contemporary psychological thrillers, I’m sure you will find it engaging, to say the least. In Mare’s story there are cases to be solved, but also personal complicated issues to be faced. Truly touching.

Atlantic Crossing

 Among the interesting things I have been watching lately, I’d also recommend Atlantic Crossing. It was an interesting discovery, a 6-part drama series about a part of WWII history I knew nothing about. Worth watching if you love good, traditional period drama.

Atlantic Crossing is a Norwegian TV show set during WWII and based on a true story: the relationship between Princess Martha of Sweden and Franklin Roosevelt.  I saw it on Italian TV, precisely on Rai Tre, but I know it was on Masterpiece PBS before, if I’m not wrong in spring. 

The story starts when Nazi Germany invaded Norway in April 1940 and the princess and her children fled to Sweden at first, but since they were not welcome there, they later accepted the invitation of President Roosevelt and found refuge in the USA.  Martha and the children lived at the White House,  while her husband, Prince Olav of Norway and his father,  moved to London, where the exiled Norwegian government went on working

The family remained separated for most of the war and, while living in the US,  Princess Martha and President Roosevelt formed a deep bond,  which influenced the American President’s 1942 speech “Look to Norway” and which writer Gore Vidal described as Roosevelt’s last true love.

The series investigates the relationship between the two,  wondering if it also affected the fate of WWII itself, that is to say, if Roosevelt’s “Lend-Lease Act” which supported Great Britain in the fight against Germany and changed the course of the conflict, was due to Princess Martha’s influence on the American President.

 The series focuses on the human more than on the political aspects of the events narrated. The watcher is involved in the tough time the royal family has to go through, torn between the demands of their public role and the struggle to survive the tragic adversities. The lead cast Emy Kyle MacLachlan as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Sofia Helin as Princess Martha are truly charismatic in their gripping performances.

  

The Pursuit of Love 

This is the latest good period drama show I could catch up with. I loved it! I have not read any Nancy Mitford in my life, including her most famous novel The Pursuit of Love, though it seems to have been a bestseller since its publication in 1945. Well, it’s time to remedy,  I must add some Mitford to my TBR list. BBC 3-part miniseries was such a pleasant watching experience, such a treat intertwining the pain with the laughter,  which made this adaptation feel like a real classic.  

The Pursuit of Love is a  funny and sharp show about love and growing up, it is set in the 1930s and during WWII,  is directed by Emily Mortimer and stars Lily James, Andrew Scott and Dominic West.

Longing for love, obsessed with weddings and sex, Linda Radlett, her sisters and her cousin Fanny are on the lookout for the perfect lover. But finding Mr Right is much harder than any of the sisters had thought. Linda must suffer marriage first to a stuffy Tory MP and then to a handsome and humourless communist, before finding real love in war-torn Paris  

Nancy Mitford’s book series continues in LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE and DON'T TELL ALFRED. More brilliant BBC drama coming soon?