Desperate Romantics Sale
Buy Desperate Romantics. With a glossy look and a driving contemporary soundtrack, Desperate Romantics is a character-driven romp through the alleyways, studios, brothels and chop-houses of 19th century London. In 1851, London is in the throes of the industrial revolution. But among the dirty red bricks and smoke stacks are four young, thrill-seeking artists - steadfast William Holman Hunt (Rafe Spall, Hot Fuzz, Bram Stoker’s Dracula), naive John Millais (Samuel Barnett, John Adams, The History Boys), mischievous Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Aidan Turner, Being Human) and budding journalist Fred Walters (Sam Crane, Midsomer Murders) - otherwise known as the Brotherhood. Their quest for artistic immortality takes them into some of the lewdest, darkest and funniest corners of the city. Joining them is sassy, sexy model Lizzie Siddal (Amy Manson, Being Human, Casualty). But is she risking it all with this dangerous bunch?
Can an art-school trio of mid-19th-century rounders make for sexy and compelling viewing? If the trio is the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of the smashing British series Desperate Romantics, the answer is a resounding yes. Desperate Romantics focuses on the real-life art students John Millais (Samuel Barnett), Dante Gabriel Rosetti (the charismatic British TV star Aidan Turner), and William Holman Hunt (Rafe Spall, son of the great actor Timothy Spall), who shocked the art world of 1840s London and the Royal Academy of Art by rejecting the staid style of the day and championing the Pre-Raphaelite style of realism and Christian symbolism in their painting. If to modern ears that doesn't sound particularly shocking, Desperate Romantics paints a compelling portrait of these artists as the rock 'n' rollers of their era, perhaps even the punk movement. They're insolent, self-absorbed, randy, and dismissive of the current Zeitgeist--though still insecure enough to want the blessing of influential critic John Ruskin (played by the splendid Tom Hollander) and annoyed by the judgmental tone taken by prominent novelist Charles Dickens (the equally splendid Mark Heap). The storytelling is based on enough fact to immerse the viewer into the world completely--yet takes enough license to spice up the tale with revenge, duels, and plenty of sex. To say that Desperate Romantics is "bawdy" doesn't explain the half of it; there's more nudity and sex in these six TV episodes than in most R-rated feature films. Yet the sex is part of the appeal of Desperate Romantics--the series is shot with sumptuous cinematography and suggests that the insatiable appetites of the three Pre-Raphaelite "brothers" went a long way toward shaping their radical, influential artistic view. "Where is the life?! The blood?!" shrieks Millais in the middle of a hushed art exhibition. Fans of British period dramas, art history, and bedroom farces will find plenty to keep them occupied in Desperate Romantics. The set also includes an interview with Franny Moyle, author of the historical fiction book upon which the series is based, and a short featurette on 19th-century England. --A.T. Hurley
Desperate Romantics Review
Notwithstanding the louche, proto-punk appeal of the leading actors, this is more than just a romp dealing with the "alpha-fops" who founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The name reflected their rejection of Raphael's "grand manner" as they championed a more realistic style combined with symbolism (mostly Christian and mythological).
Peter Bowker's well-judged script focuses on the professional and personal lives of the charismatic Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the urbane John Everett Millais, and the manic William Holman Hunt. The dialogue blends Victorian idiom with contemporary expressions and delivery. The lush production is based on Franny Moyle's Desperate Romantics: The Private Lives of the Pre-Raphaelites. A brash, fantastically comedic glam-rock score by Daniel Pemberton accompanies scenes of artistic creation, of sex, and of the Brotherhood swaggering abreast through London asserting their brilliance.
Using a fictional narrator (the diffident but awestruck diarist Fred Walters), the dramatisation remains historically faithful. Flame-haired hat-shop girl turned model/Muse Lizzie Siddal, models for Millais's iconic ''Ophelia'' in a full bath warmed by dozens of candles; Charles Dickens pours scorn on Millais's ''Christ in the House of His Parents,'' accusing it of blasphemy; the repressed influential critic John Ruskin (Tom Hollander - wonderful) is sexually repelled by his wife Effie, leaving the way open for her to fall in love with the engaging, affable Millais.
Pacy and racy, the story follows the hungry, ambitious group through the dingy brothels and shops, on their search for Muses and models; in their studios, getting and losing inspiration - and having sex; humbled by old fogeys, while seeking sponsorship at Royal Academy exhibitions. Oozing talent and testosterone, Rossetti (Aidan Turner), emerges as the leader of the pack, although the personalities are all distinctive and beautifully acted.
For some of the Brotherhood and their models, dark outcomes lay ahead (notably not Millais - he became President of the R.A.) But that's another story. For now, this is a very watchable account of the bright young things in the prime of their inspired lives.
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