Portrait of a Marriage

In 1992, when this four-hour BBC miniseries—about the love affair between writer Vita Sackville-West and her childhood friend Violet Keppel—first aired on PBS, some of the more provocative footage (including some artistically-shot nudity) was cut. For this two-disc set, Portrait of a Marriage is presented in the full 219-minute English original version. The focus of Penelope Mortimer's script, however, isn't simply the women's desire for each other, but also the devastating impact it has on their marriages: Vita's husband is a diplomat who confesses his own bisexual inclination, while Violet's spouse is a military man who accepts his wife's demand for a chaste relationship but cannot tolerate her continuing connection with Vita. Portrait of a Marriage is beautifully mounted, shot in lovely locations, and replete with magnificent period detail and costuming. But dramatically the series is somewhat schizophrenic, with most of the narrative played out with typical British aristocratic reserve—a sort of affected stiff-upper-lip attitude—set against a central romance featuring wildly emotional outbursts that seem very broad (especially in Janet McTeer's performance as Vita). Viewers interested in staid Masterpiece Theatre drama may find this too explicit, while those drawn to the story might consider too much of it overly tame. Optional. (F. Swietek)