Camelot

Camelot

Sunday, May 29, 2011

He Knew He Was Right

I just finished watching a BBC period drama called "He Knew He Was Right" based on a novel by a Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope.  The story is about a young newly married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Louis and Emily Trevelyan.  The first year of their marriage was blissful until an old friend of Emily's father, Col. Osborne, starts paying her regular visits.  Louis, her husband, becomes jealous of the friendship.  The jealousy turns into obsession when society starts gossiping about his wife and her relationship with the colonel.  The obsession becomes so severe it threatens his marriage and his relationship with his wife and young son.  Around them are other related stories of a flirtatious clergyman who leads two sisters to believe that he loves each of them, causing them to compete for his affections and a young woman companion to a wealthy, elderly, overbearing aunt who opposes her marrying the man she loves.
As I watched the story unfold I was incredulous to see Louis' love for his wife turn into something else, more like insanity.  The very rigid rules of Victorian society and it's effects on a man with a weak mind who couldn't or wouldn't stand up to protect his wife from the idle gossip.  I found the clergyman and the two sisters incredibly funny and the love between a young woman and her aunt very heartwarming.  From what I've read (reviews) it was a very good adaptation of the novel.  Personally I haven't read the novel but I am now very interested in doing so.  It's available on Netflix if you're interested in watching.

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