@nftygirl, The fault of this production is not in the antique nature of Henry Fielding's 1749 novel, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Indeed, hailed as one of the great comic novels of English literature and author Henry Fielding’s masterpiece, the style provides massive space for contemporary updating and social commentary. At least certainly, "loose women" and "smirking gentlemen" is a diluted, hackneyed device not at all present in the original material of Tom Jones:
As we determined, when we first sat down to write this history, to flatter no man, but to guide our pen throughout by the directions of truth, we are obliged to bring our heroe on the stage in a much more disadvantageous manner than we could wish; and to declare honestly, even at his first appearance, that it was the universal opinion of all Mr. Allworthy's family that he was certainly born to be hanged.
So many modern cross-overs in our currently inflamed and vexed Anglo-American societies could have been weaved into a contemporary retelling of the religious/Jacobite Uprising setting—all that is lost. But my biggest gripe with the production is how the filmmakers, instead, stuff the story into a kind of Austen-Dickens morality mashup. Jane Austen's and Charles Dickens's novels—along with their adaption progeny—have their charms. I'm a fan! (especially Austen) of the many film and television adaptions. However, Henry Fielding is very far afield of this type of country mouse/city mouse, living room, class melodrama.
We can see the grafting on to Dickens (primarily) with the derivative line, "To begin at the beginning is to begin…," an obvious ode to David Copperfield, "To begin my life with the beginning of my life…" in which Sophia of Tom Jones becomes the first person, narrator, to David of Copperfield. In Fielding's Tom Jones, the narrator is an entirely other being—more its own character—with its own relationship to the reader. This is at least one device in which the author introduces far-flung insights and opens discussion, wholly apart from the main plot.
Secondly, the overlay of Austen/Dickens removes entirely the canvas of comedy. A treatment, such as The Favorite (2018), Yorgos Lanthimos, or The Great (2020), Tony McNamara, would have been far more interesting, entertaining, and faithful to the novel.
This 1749 novel simply doesn't work this day in age. The writers tried to adapt the novel to the modern screen but 18th C plays and novels adhere to a different morality, one in which loose women must be punished and loose men smirked at and gently steered in the right direction. The religious plot of the novel (set against the Jacobite uprising) is forgotten entirely, meaning that the broad comedy is balanced out but nothing at all. McLeod does a lot with a challenging role, making us forgive Tom's affairs but there's no chemistry between him and the female lead. The production value is great and Hannah Waddingham is perfection as the rich cougar, but overall I would not recommend this at all.
Shout by Lauren HoffmanBlockedParent2024-04-18T02:17:47Z
It was well made, but Tom Jones is so dislikable between being kinda dumb and screwing anyone who looks at him. In the end I was disappointed Tom and Sophia end up together because he's just a skeezy dude, what a tradgedy she's wasted on him. Aren't there other bachelors for an heiress who aren't either of these two awful guys?