Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The plot of the film is very good!Jenny Seagrove is perfect as Emma Harte.!The films' music is wonderful!The actors are perfect! I haven't read the Barbara Bradford's book but I'd like to read it! I like the sequence-"Hold the dream",too.I will never forget this film!

Spoilers herein.Most people don't need much to justify their time in front of a screen. For them, this has two elements as an excuse: pretty good and convincing sets (except the war) and the remarkable face of Jenny Seagrove. Jenny isn't quite up to making her role believable in the large: what with sexual problems, revenge, passion-then-problems, incest, final emptiness. But she is fine in the small, especially at the beginning few hours where she isn?t a wasted human being, and someone we root for.Her face is very appealing, in fact is precisely half way between Nichole Kidman and Liv Tyler. I found two things remarkable here: the first is that most women (and there are many) have red hair or are often lit so that their hair is red. I think this is not an accident, and only part can be explained by familial relationships.The other wonder full thing is: why do we have this new genre of generational scope? I know whey we have the "mini-series" -- because it is a balance of costs, rewards and the attention span of viewers. But in the past, Austen?s time -- we would have focused on one set of characters and had room for development, not three generations and no room at all.The reason is the power of genre. Genre is a shorthand that allows the writer to assume with confidence that the viewer will assume certain things. Austen's Britain was a rigid class society, and every reader could be assumed to know and bring to the story elements that would otherwise have taken dozens of volumes to prepare. American audiences, the target of this project and the book, have no such benefit. As this is Pseudo-Austen (or more precisely pseudo-Bronte), it still has to have the superficial trappings: set in England, involve class struggle. But it has to invent the context pretty much from scratch, so we have to wade through all the stuff that Bronte's audience would know: the privilege, the sneering at servants, the sexual and economicexploitation and on and on. We have to SEE a father sacrifice his life for a Fairley. We have to SEE a Fairley attempt a rape. We have to SEE a Fairley brutalizing workers... and on and on.The problem is that we have to do so much work as viewers to advance the story. Too much. And by the end, the writers haven?t worked as hard. There is a crisis of sorts, and a resolution of sorts, but it is not related to all the work we have done.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.

Having first seen this mini series when it originally aired I purchased my own copy and watch it over and over. Obviously, I like it very much, however there are flaws that I find increasingly irritating. Just before the severe thunderstorm and downpour of rain in Part I they show a perfectly cloudless blue sky. The "Hollywood Rain" that follows is so phony looking it's embarrassing. Edwina's voice dubbing (as a child) sounds awful. Barry Bostwick was a "sore thumb" miscast in the role of Paul McGill. Concerning Emma's children: The viewer is "pulling" for Emma throughout the saga, wronged by the Fairlys, working hard for a better life but how can the viewer take joy or feel supportive of her "actions" at that last "family meeting" at her Yorkshire house? Those children turned out the way they did for a reason. It's called neglect and emotional abuse and it WILL do that to a person. In this case 4 people! At that point in the story I felt sympathy for them not support for Emma. Daisy's daughter Paula was clearly Emma's favorite, but what of Daisy herself ? It was odd that she was not more prominent. The most annoying thing to me was the very last scene. Back in Yorkshire, just moments after having "rocked the world" of those select family members she and Blackie are outside reviewing the years as she sums up her life in an "unaffected" nonchalant manor. How can she appear "unaffected" after what has just occurred ? The last line was so contrived; she actually tells the viewer the "motive" of the story. The viewer doesn't want to be TOLD what the "motive" is. If it's well written we'll figure it out. The ending of a story is all important !!! They blew this one.

Even the most hard-hearted will find it difficult to resist the spell of this stylish mini-series. The audience is put through the emotional mangle as spirited heroine Emma Harte endures every setback and hardship going, yet still wins through.Part of the fascination of the series lies in the quite remarkable cast. Jenny Seagrove splendid as the indefatigable Emma ; a young Liam Neeson and Miranda Richardson ; dear old Barry Morse ; Deborah Kerr as the older Emma ; Christopher Guard as the blackguardly villain, who gets his comeuppance in one of the most satisfying scenes ; and Peter Chelsom, who went on to direct the hit British film "Hear My Song", as well as the less successful "Funny Bones".