A sumptuously mounted BBC adaptation of Stella Tillyard's acclaimed biography, David Caffrey's Aristocrats vividly recreates 18th-century Britain as a colorful backdrop for the history of a proud, pampered family descended from royalty. This is the story of the Lennox sisters—Caroline (Serena Gordon), Emily (Geraldine Somerville as a girl, and Sian Phillips as a woman), Louisa (Anne-Marie Duff), and Sarah (Jodhi May)—who never forget their lineage as great-granddaughters of a king, but also never let it inhibit them. Headstrong Caroline, the oldest, takes center stage in the first part of this three-volume miniseries, when she dares to fall in love outside her class—with a politician 20 years her senior—and is banished from the family estate and forbidden contact with her sisters. But don't confuse Aristocrats with soap opera: yes, there are sibling rivalries, marital infidelities, class conflicts, and outright revolution, but the material is presented intelligently by a uniformly superb cast. DVD extras include a “making-of” featurette. Recommended. (E. Hulse)
Aristocrats
Acorn, 3 discs, 293 min., not rated, DVD: $49.99 Volume 21, Issue 5
Aristocrats
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