A brilliant but rash and unkind young man marries an older woman, known for her great beauty, who is quite as intelligent as he is, but a great deal more sophisticated and civilized. Both husband and wife are pawns and players in a complicated game of national and international politics. Both husband and wife have short tempers, long memories and a nice line in revenge. So what can go wrong ? The answer, as proved by history, is : almost everything and anything you care to think of.
Henry Plantagenet, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and their supremely messed-up descendants are brought to vivid life in this fine series. The screenplay and writing are excellent and the acting is electrifying. (Special thanks to Jane Lapotaire, who is a deeply moving Eleanor.)
It is strange how many of the themes are still topical, such as the rivalry between Christianity and Islam. Another key theme is the complicated relationship, made up of equal parts friendship and enmity, between England and France - Brexit, anyone ?
The sets and locations are unusual, betraying theatrical roots. The effect of this artwork, which borrows heavily from religious art such as illuminated scriptures or rose windows, is mixed. At times it is marvelously evocative, conjuring up images of forgotten palaces or of a long-lost Europe covered with vast forests, in a era when the average citizen was born, lived and died in the same village and when people of seventy years old were grey-beards of the most stunning and venerable antiquity. At other times the effect falls flat : it's pretty much like sitting in a cold school hall, watching a Nativity play, and grimly waiting for the moment where the cardboard palm tree will collapse on King Melchior and the Second Shepherd.
Henry Plantagenet, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and their supremely messed-up descendants are brought to vivid life in this fine series. The screenplay and writing are excellent and the acting is electrifying. (Special thanks to Jane Lapotaire, who is a deeply moving Eleanor.)
It is strange how many of the themes are still topical, such as the rivalry between Christianity and Islam. Another key theme is the complicated relationship, made up of equal parts friendship and enmity, between England and France - Brexit, anyone ?
The sets and locations are unusual, betraying theatrical roots. The effect of this artwork, which borrows heavily from religious art such as illuminated scriptures or rose windows, is mixed. At times it is marvelously evocative, conjuring up images of forgotten palaces or of a long-lost Europe covered with vast forests, in a era when the average citizen was born, lived and died in the same village and when people of seventy years old were grey-beards of the most stunning and venerable antiquity. At other times the effect falls flat : it's pretty much like sitting in a cold school hall, watching a Nativity play, and grimly waiting for the moment where the cardboard palm tree will collapse on King Melchior and the Second Shepherd.