Portrait of a Marriage | |
---|---|
Genre | Period drama |
Based on | Portrait of a Marriage by Nigel Nicolson |
Written by | Penelope Mortimer |
Directed by | Stephen Whittaker |
Starring | |
Composer | Barrington Pheloung |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Producer | Colin Tucker |
Cinematography | David Feig |
Editor | Dick Allen |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | BBC Two |
Release | 19 September – 10 October 1990 |
Portrait of a Marriage is a British television miniseries detailing the real-life love affair between Vita Sackville-West and Violet Keppel, as well as the strength of Vita's enduring marriage to the diplomat Harold Nicolson. Based on the biography of the same name by Nigel Nicolson, it features Janet McTeer as Vita, and Cathryn Harrison as Violet.
The series was adapted by Penelope Mortimer, directed by Stephen Whittaker and produced by Colin Tucker. It was first aired on BBC Two in four parts in 1990; a three-part edited version aired in the United States on PBS in 1992 as part of the Masterpiece Theatre strand. [1]
Nigel Nicolson, son of Vita and Harold, originally sold the rights to his book to Patricia Hodge, who offered it to the BBC. [2] Matt Wolf, writing in The New York Times , described Nicolson as being "among the severest critics" of the production. Nicolson said that "there was too much sex in it" and if someone were to respond that he wrote it: "But my answer is there's a difference between written words and the visual image. The affair could have been suggested much more delicately; it could be done by gesture and look, not necessarily by performance." [2]
Whittaker and McTeer also spoke to Wolf. Whittaker found the story "quite remarkable" and said of the subjects: "They were trying actually to make some sense of their lives, to come to terms and explore themselves in very painful and joyous ways and to be at one with themselves." McTeer said that: "[Vita] didn't quite fit in anywhere. She wasn't quite in the Bloomsbury set; she wasn't quite a bohemian; she didn't quite belong in the aristocracy. She was an eccentric, and eccentric people are always interesting." [2]
John J. O'Connor, writing for The New York Times , praised the performances of McTeer, Harrison and Haig, and said: "Despite offering much to admire, Portrait of a Marriage eventually wears painfully thin." [3] In the Los Angeles Times , Howard Rosenberg also praised the performances, describing them as "first rate", but said that "Penelope Mortimer's adaptation is without joy, giving us no one to like or even care about". [1] Tony Scott in Variety concluded his review by praising the production of the drama, including costume, design, filming, editing and music, and saying: "Visually and dramatically Marriage is terrif". [4] All three reviewers discussed the cuts made for the American audience.
The production won three awards at the British Academy Television Awards in 1991 in the costume design (Dinah Collin), design (Stuart Walker) and film editor (Dick Allen) categories; Lisa Westcott was nominated in the make up category. The series also won the Grand Prize at the 1991 Banff Television Festival. [5]
Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, CH, usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer.
Sir Harold George Nicolson was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West.
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, at Sissinghurst in the Weald of Kent in England, was created by Vita Sackville-West, poet and writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. It is among the most famous gardens in England and is designated Grade I on Historic England's register of historic parks and gardens. It was bought by Sackville-West in 1930, and over the next thirty years, working with, and later succeeded by, a series of notable head gardeners, she and Nicolson transformed a farmstead of "squalor and slovenly disorder" into one of the world's most influential gardens. Following Sackville-West's death in 1962, the estate was donated to the National Trust. It was ranked 42nd on the list of the Trust's most-visited sites in the 2021–2022 season, with over 150,000 visitors.
Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizon (1940–49) and wrote Enemies of Promise (1938), which combined literary criticism with an autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of fiction that he had aspired to be in his youth.
Ernest William Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe, was a British banker and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 until 1905 when he inherited the Grimthorpe peerage.
Violet Trefusis was an English socialite and author. She is chiefly remembered for her lengthy affair with the writer Vita Sackville-West that both women continued after their respective marriages. It was featured in novels by both parties; in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography; and in many letters and memoirs of the period roughly from 1912 to 1922. She may have been the inspiration for aspects of the character Lady Montdore in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate and of Muriel in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium (1982).
Orlando: A Biography is a novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. Inspired by the tumultuous family history of the aristocratic poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West, Woolf's lover and close friend, it is arguably one of her most popular novels; Orlando is a history of English literature in satiric form. The book describes the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history. Considered a feminist classic, the book has been written about extensively by scholars of women's writing and gender and transgender studies.
Beard is a slang term, American in origin, describing a person who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, as a date, romantic partner, or spouse either to conceal infidelity or to conceal one's sexual orientation. The term also refers, in some areas, to anyone who acted on behalf of another, in any transaction, to conceal a person's true identity. The term can be used in heterosexual and non-heterosexual contexts but is especially used within LGBTQ+ culture. References to beards are seen in mainstream television and films, and other entertainment.
Nigel Nicolson was an English writer, publisher and politician.
Portrait of a Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson is the 1973 biography of writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West compiled by her son Nigel Nicolson from her journals and letters.
Penelope Ruth Mortimer was a Welsh-born English journalist, biographer, and novelist. Her semi-autobiographical novel The Pumpkin Eater (1962) was made into a 1964 film of the same name.
Cathryn Mary Lee Harrison was an English actress.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd, often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991.
Evelyn Graham Irons was a Scottish journalist, the first female war correspondent to be decorated with the French Croix de Guerre.
Alvilde Lees-Milne was a British gardening and landscape expert.
Villa Cimbrone is a historic villa in Ravello, on the Amalfi Coast of southern Italy. Dating from at least the 11th century, it is famous for its scenic belvedere, the Terrazza dell'Infinito.
Long Barn, located in the village of Sevenoaks Weald, Kent, is a Grade II* listed building and a Grade II* registered garden. Reputedly the birthplace of William Caxton, the house was later the home of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. During their ownership, the house is also notable for famous residents such as Douglas Fairbanks and Charles Lindbergh.
The Bloomsbury Group plays a prominent role in the LGBT history of its day.
Antony Samuel King-Deacon was personal secretary to Sir Harold Nicolson, a fashion journalist for The Times, and later a gardening author and freelance journalist.