Amazon Prime Video’s The Pursuit Of Love peaks in its stylish premiere
Lily James and Andrew Scott star in Emily Mortimer's adaptation of a classic interwar coming-of-age tale
TV Reviews The Pursuit of Love
The Favourite did what Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette failed to do—inspire a revolution in period piece aesthetics. Since Yorgos Lanthimos’ oddball royal court dramedy swept the Oscars, Apple TV+’s Dickinson, Hulu’s The Great, Autumn de Wilde’s Emma, and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women have all found success in injecting contemporary style and a modern sensibility into the standard historical drama template. And for its first episode, at least, Amazon Prime Video’s interwar drama The Pursuit Of Love follows suit. When young British cousins Linda Radlett (Lily James) and Fanny Logan (Emily Beecham) meet their neighbor Lord Merlin (Fleabag’s Andrew Scott), the eccentric aristocrat is introduced in a fantasy sequence that channels ballroom culture by way of glam rock. Set to T. Rex’s “Dandy In The Underworld,” the glitter-filled scene filters a late 1920s experience through a distinctly modern visual language in order to make this meeting of minds feel as alive as it would have to its characters. It’s an exhilarating mix of style and substance.
It’s just a shame the rest of the show can’t keep up that level of verve. After the premiere launches the series with visual flair and a unique point of view, the next two episodes slowly devolve into more standard period piece fare. Despite its initial promise of quirky innovation, The Pursuit Of Love is mostly anchored by the familiar building blocks of a BBC co-production: sumptuous costuming, gorgeous cinematography, and strong performances. Based on Nancy Mitford’s 1945 novel of the same name, the show can only intermittently keep its spark of originality alive. The Pursuit Of Love often struggles to blend its kitschy comedic sensibilities with its more dramatic beats—although it’s a joy to watch when it does.
Set between 1927 and 1941, The Pursuit Of Love centers on the divergent experiences of its two female leads. Plain, pragmatic Fanny (Beecham) was given a good education but has a natural timidity and a desire not to rock the boat that sets her on the path towards a conventional life of mid-20th-century womanhood. Linda (James), meanwhile, is a beautiful, free-spirited rebel who “lives in a world of superlatives.” Her stern father (Dominic West, hilarious and terrifying) believes women shouldn’t be educated and raises his children in what amounts to a glamorous prison at their wealthy country estate. That leaves Linda both woefully naïve and desperate to escape, which sets her on a series of complicated romantic entanglements that come to define her tragicomic life. Love may be her religion, but she’s worshipping at a fickle altar.
The three-episode series is adapted and directed by Emily Mortimer, who also has a small role as Fanny’s mother “The Bolter,” the responsibility-averse serial monogamist that Fanny and Linda define their lives against. Mortimer zeroes in on the “either/or” limitations put on upper class women in this era: They can be dutiful wives and mothers with social respectability but not a whole lot of fun or freedom (“the stickers”). Or they can put their own needs before that of their spouses and children, carving out a sense of independence but losing their social respect in the process (“the bolters”). Fanny and Linda’s friendship is defined by the way they alternately fear and crave what the other has. As in her previous series, Doll & Em, Mortimer is interested in complex relationships between women. Linda and Fanny share both an aspirational intimacy and a toxic co-dependency, which Mortimer allows to ebb and flow in realistic and compelling ways.
The main problem with The Pursuit Of Love is that it very much feels like a novel condensed into a limited series form—not least of all because of Fanny’s near-incessant narration throughout the series. The focused first episode gives way to a jam-packed second installment that weaves its way across England before hopping to 1930s Hollywood, a refugee camp at the border of the Spanish War, and eventually Gay Paree. The supporting characters are thinly sketched, while the relationship between Fanny and Linda battles for screen time with Linda’s various romantic conquests. The Pursuit Of Love either needed more episodes to explore its decade-long story or Mortimer needed to be a little more judicious in what she cut from the source material.
It doesn’t help that Linda is like a cross between Downton Abbey’s Lady Rose and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’s Donna Sheridan, with a dash of War And Peace’s Natasha Rostova. This isn’t just a part James could play in her sleep, but one she basically already has. Though James effortlessly zings between flirtatious fun and deep melancholy, she’s missing a spark of freshness as this “Bright Young Thing,” especially when she has to spend the entire first episode playing a teenager. It’s yet another element of familiarity that weighs down The Pursuit Of Love. While the show’s focus on female friendship and feminist themes is appreciable, it’s not all that radical to see a British period piece center on relationships between beautiful, upper class white women—as much of James’ own career can attest.
Instead, the most relevant themes that emerge from The Pursuit Of Love are about what it’s like to live at a time when it feels like the world is about to end. With war in Europe imminent, Linda initially tries to find purpose in communism only to eventually bury herself in a frivolous life of shopping and luxury instead. “She was possessed by a calm and happy fatalism,” Fanny explains in voiceover as Linda meets the rise of fascism by purchasing yet another new outfit. It’s not entirely unlike the way we must all figure out how to cope in the current face of climate change, a global pandemic, and yet another rise in fascism. Like the glam rock montages and wry Wes Anderson-inspired cutaways, Linda’s glamorous nihilism adds a spiky edge that occasionally jazzes up The Pursuit Of Love’s classic period piece formula with something new.
19 Comments
“The Favourite did what Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette failed to do—inspire a revolution in period piece aesthetics.”hot take, Marie Antoinette did it better and still continues to inspire.
I think both are good, but they’re very different, almost opposite – Marie Antoinette was focused on embodying the point of view of its protagonist, while The Favourite was almost clinical in its depiction of the characters, and to the extent it gives you a character to sympathize with early on, it gradually makes you regret that choice.But anyway, I think Caroline’s right in that I can’t think of any particular period film or show that’s clearly been inspired by Marie Antoinette, save perhaps Coppola’s own The Beguiled. Maybe something like First Cow could count, I guess, but that came out 13 years later.
that’s true. I do think it inspires in the sense that Marie Antoinette had more of cultural impact and continues to be a movie that even Gen Z gravitates towards, but maybe less so as one that inspired other filmmakers. I still love The Favourite, but something about Marie Antoinette and it’s ability to exist in two time periods at once always feels so special.
I seriously loved this – watched streaming when it aired in the U.K. If it’d been a book I’d have be unable to put it down. IMO Andrew Scott elevates everything he’s in.
The book is pretty great, and the ones that follow are too! Nancy Mitford is a very fun writer and this is partially based on the Mitford girls upbringing (that women don’t get education, keep them on the estate), there are a few books about their lives that are even more interesting than Nancy’s books. One of her sisters was a Nazi essentially and it tore up their family for quite a while.I didn’t realize they had made this show so I’m excited to watch it.
The novel is fantastic, and I was excited about this until I saw it stars Lily James. I can’t stand her, so unfortunately I’ll have to pass. Maybe I’ll give it a shot when I’m either bored or drunk.
Her “ingenue” schtick (not the best descriptor, but…) works in this. She wasn’t terrible but she was a large part of the series – obviously.
I started watching this and couldn’t get past Dominic West chasing the kids on a horse yelling I HATE CHILDREN!! Should I try again? I love Lily James. That Guernsey Book Club movie she did on Netflix was so good.
The characters were BROAD, but yes, try again. I felt he was doing his best to do in-bred, barely educated, upper class twit.
I need to watch this now that I know Emily Beecham is in it. Moriarty and The Widow together in one thing?? Sign me up! For anyone who wants to see Beecham kick ass all over the place watch “Into the Badlands”. She’s great in that.
Sure, the Oscar “The Favourite” won was a big one. But I’ve never heard of a single win (even in a major category, even when that win was the night’s biggest surprise) being considered a sweep.
Not directly related to the series, but why Lily James always has her mouth half open?is it a nose / adenoids problem? Too bad the series on not on prime video UK at the moment 🙁
Is it not still on BBC iPlayer? It certainly was on there a few weeks back….
There was a miniseries Love in a Cold Climate that combined that novel and The Pursuit of Love with Rosamond Pike made about 20 years ago that was so much better than this. I love Emily Mortimer but this is just terrible. I am surprised she did not combine the two novels since they are set at the same time. And it has the great character of Cedric Hampton in Love in a Cold Climate!!! The Gay Diva!!! He is so much fun.There is too much narration and I did not like the implied sexual relationship between Fanny and Linda. Linda is portrayed as being horny all the time but the Linda of the book (and the previous miniseries) was looking for love and adventure. She was so much more of an interesting character than Lily Jame’s version. I The previous miniseries was fun and compelling and entertaining. This is not. I advice people to look for this 2000 version, so much better. Much better adaptation.
What Marie Antoinette failed to do? I would argue that almost every period piece after that release copied the movie. Especially the anachronistic music choices. I mean… The Great is more akin to that film than to The Favourite – regardless of the Nicholas Hoult crossover.
thanks for saying what needed to be said!
I wouldn’t know… because I hated every movie that aped Marie Antoinette. There’s probably more that didn’t go down that rabbit hole, that did.
I generally liked this adaptation but a couple of things really bothered me.I hated the attempts to have some sort of lesbian subtext with Fanny and Linda. If you want to put that twist on a book adaptation fine but can we at least pick one where the two women are not first cousins/some other close relation? It just felt like a cheap way to make the series more titillating.Also it bugged me that they felt the need to mess with Fanny’s character as she is in the books. You never get the impression Fanny is jealous of Linda to any great extent. Fanny’s whole thing is that she wants to be the opposite of her mother and have the stable marriage and the secure family life. In the book she’s mainly worried about what will become of Linda, not jealous of her adventures and fancy clothes.
I liked the first episode but really struggled with the rest of the series. I found myself bored and wanting more comedy and substance. The scene in episode 1 were Andrew Scott enters is the best scene in the entire show. I thought I was going to get more of that and I was sadly mistaken.