Love in a Cold Climate

Two of Nancy Mitford's novels—The Pursuit of Love and the titular Love in a Cold Climate—are the sources for this sumptuous two-part 2001 BBC Masterpiece Theatre miniseries, a tale of three young aristocratic women in 1930s England whose romantic dreams take them along decidedly different roads. One defies her bulldog father's prejudices to marry a snooty banker's son, but then abandons him to follow a communist rabble-rouser to civil war-torn Spain and later takes up with a sophisticated French nobleman. A second suffers disinheritance when she marries a wastrel widower. Only the third, who also serves as our levelheaded narrator, weds sensibly. A wickedly funny satire of upper-class social mores between the world wars with a streak of poignancy beneath the surface elegance, Love in a Cold Climate benefits from a sharp script, gorgeous locations—including an estate where Mitford herself once lived—and a cast that mixes veterans such as the late Alan Bates and Anthony Andrews with winning up-and-coming stars. The compression of the original narrative sometimes leads to a bit of confusion about relationships and motivations among the characters, but overall this is a delightful adaptation of bitingly witty books, beautifully realized on virtually every level. DVD extras include a text biography of Mitford, production notes, and cast filmographies. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)