15 thoughts on “The Pursuit of Love (2021)

  1. I’ve seen both of the earlier miniseries, the one from the early 80’s with Judi Dench and Lucy Gutteridge and the most recent with Rosamund Pike and Megan Dodds. I found it interesting that Emily Mortimer decided to adapt just the Pursuit of Love instead of combining both books. I did miss Polly’s story a bit although I did like that you get more of Linda and Fanny’s friendship in this version. I just feel like Lily James plays the same characters over and over again, and I didn’t much care for Linda in this version. I found the contemporary music jarring but I loved the costumes and Dominic West made quite a good Fa.

  2. I much preferred both of the earlier adaptations…and did miss Polly, Boy etc…I think Fanny was meant to be the sober, sensible type as played in the previous shows but have the book to read again to be sure…did not like her much as shown in this new one. The music was just annoying so I ignored it. I am not a fan of Dominic West ever since The Affair but this role suited him. Overall this version just made me go back and rewatch the other two.

  3. I knew she took inspiration from Sofia Coppola when that New Order song came on. It just didn’t hit the same though. I don’t mind modern music in a period movie but it has to be done well! The New Order song has such a great build up and it was put over a scene where two of the characters are just sitting around… what?!

  4. I loved this version. It had spirit, and oh yes, the Frenchman! He got a gasp from me when he appeared. Loved the clothes, too, and I liked the shabby things at the beginning, and the horrid debut dresses. Lily James was born to play this part.

  5. Damn. I get the feeling I won’t quite approve of this version. But that Lanvin robe de style! I so wish I had been born in about 1880, so I could have lived a fashion revolution and then perhaps been able to afford couture in my 50s.

    1. Personally I think the combination of no waist with paniers makes a rather awful silhouette.

  6. I honestly thought the costuming was fine, though I agree with your criticisms, but the hair just totally ruined it for me, all the more because they do it right for a bit, so why not do it right the whole time? The long hair just makes it all look 70s. No conservative father would have let his daughters run around with loose long hair in a million years.

    It’s also why they couldn’t do the hats, because the hats looks stupid with long hair. Some of the hats are 40s in the 30s, too. NOBODY had that long loose hair in the 20s and 30s. You either had it short or wore it pinned up. Even in the 40s quite a few people resisted growing their hair longer again.

    I know the novel extremely well, and I thought the characterisation was alright, except for the final hard swing into explicit feminism at the end, which I don’t feel is what the book was saying. Nancy Mitford wrote a few more progressive books but these books are nostalgia-driven, and after the war feminism was passe.

    1. Have to amend my comment that early in the 20s, young girls could have that loose long hair with Mary Pickford curls, but I’ve only seen that on regular people a few times, and I think only on Americans.

      1. Many women in the ’20s who were too chicken to cut their hair wore it wrapped in such a way as to look as if their hair was bobbed, even though it wasn’t. Loose hair, though, not so much.

  7. I did not like this at all. I do think it was a waste of money and they could have done much, much better, certainly in terms of adapting the novel, costuming, sets, casting and the general vibe. While the 2004 version was slower i think that one was much much more splendid in every regard.

  8. Is anyone else out there wondering if there are any knitting/crochet (?) patterns available anywhere for the beautiful blue sweater worn by Fanny in the beginning scenes of season one, episode one?

      1. Hello Kendra,
        Thanks for your reply! I did look on Ravely, but didn’t have any success. I also did an exhaustive internet search and came upon this site, so I thought I’d try to make an inquiry here!
        Deb~

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