26 thoughts on “My Top Five Biopic Frock Flicks

    1. I love all of the ones you listed, but would add Edward the King, The First Churchills, Anne of A Thousand Days, Marshall, The Six Wives of Henry VIII especially KOA and Anne Boleyn episodes, The Winslow Boy and The King’s Speech.

      1. The First Churchills was a defining moment for me as a young teen. I’d love to see it covered here. 40 years of late Stuart costumes and some pretty impressive wigs (and some Whigs too!)

          1. What a performance as Princess and later Queen Anne! I could never watch The Favourite as it just seemed to regard all these people as objects of fun. I have read so many of their letters – I can’t stand watching them being “sent up”.

  1. ‘La storia vera della signora dalle camelie‘ (The Lady of the Camellias) 1981.

    I watched it on line in Italian with small French subtitles (or was it in French with small Italian subtitles… I forget) with gigantic Spanish subtitles that took up half the screen superimposed over them. Ugh! But I wanted to see the fantastic Piero Tosi costumes. It’s supposedly the real story and I could tell what was happening even tho’ it was in 3 languages I don’t understand. Incredibly sad… but I liked the film even in the bizarre form I saw it in.

  2. Two TNT mini-series hooked me on to frock flicks as a young person (perhaps teen?): A Season of Giants (about Michelangelo and his cohort) and Young Catherine (about Catherine the Great). Much like what you mentioned with Elizabeth R, these costume dramas got me interested in the people they depicted, their respective eras, and frock flicks. I loved Get on Up (the James Brown biopic) and The Doors both of which have time frames that extend beyond FF’s purview. Coco Before Chanel was also very, very good. There are probably more, but those are the only ones I can think of right now. Of the five you listed here, I thought Frida and Wilde were well done. I haven’t watched the others.

  3. A lovely choice. I am also rather fond of ‘Wives and Daughters’. I love the book, the series, the acting, the costumes the hair!

  4. “Wallenstein” (1978) should be on the list. The German series with the best costumes, fine actors although some details are wrong. But it’s German.
    “L’Allée du Roi” and “Molière” (1978) are great films too although the second is maybe not so good focussing on the costumes.
    The French deffinetly love to produce epic biopics.

  5. I suppose the costuming is good (not my era) but I liked The Electrical Life of Louis Wain because I love the artists work.

  6. Wilde is heartbreakingly good. I completely agree with you too, Stephen Fry is Wilde. It’s been quite a while, but I remember thinking The Libertine was pretty good. I thought it did a good job to humanize John Wilmot outside of just being a bawdy poet.

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