"War and Peace" (2007)TV mini-series

Directors:

Robert Dornhelm
Brendan Donnison

Writers:

Lorenzo Favella (writer)
Enrico Medioli (writer)

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The story of five aristocratic families in Russia during the the Napoleonic Era.

Plot Keywords:

19th Century | Historical | Russia | Napoleonic Wars | French Soldier

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Alexander Beyer	...	Pierre Bezukhov
Clémence Poésy	...	Natasha Rostova
Alessio Boni	...	Prince Andrej Bolkonsky
Malcolm McDowell	...	Prince Bolkonsky
Andrea Giordana	...	Count Rostov
Brenda Blethyn	...	Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa
Violante Placido	...	Helene Kuragin
Toni Bertorelli	...	Vasilii Kuragin
Hannelore Elsner	...	Countess Rostova
Benjamin Sadler	...	Dolokhov
Pilar Abella	...	Mademoisellle Bourienne
Ken Duken	...	Anatole Kuragin
Hary Prinz	...	Denisov
Vladimir Ilyin	...	Kutuzov
Dmitri Isayev	...	Nikolaj

Also Known As:

Guerra e pace (Italy)
Guerre et paix (France)
Krieg und Frieden (Germany)
Wojna i pokój (Poland)

Runtime:

Russia:395 min | USA:480 min (including commercials)

Country:

Italy | France | Germany | Russia | Poland

Language:

Russian | English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

St. Petersburg, Russia

Company:

Lux Vide

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Near the end of the series (set in 1813), Pierre plays the first bars of Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor - which was composed in 1830.

WAR AND PEACE : French mini- TV series

I just saw the first part and I agree with the other commentator, it is very disappointing. He mentions the Audrey Hepburn version. I would like to mention that as French was the language of the Russian aristocracy, 2/3 of the book was written in French with Russian translation added in the footnotes, funny I think... Therefore, I would like to praise again the Bondartchouk version, I would say it is the ultimate version and nothing can come even close to it: for me, who read the book in the original Russian, this is the true interpretation of what Tolstoy would have wanted. And you ask why ? Because Sergey Bondartchouk followed the book line after line, and included all the most minute details. It was thoroughly researched and everything was absolutely perfect, the dresses, the carriages, the furniture, the sets, etc. If you have not seen, do try to get it, it is a great work of art.

In this mini series, most of the details are wrong, but the worst mistake is in the cast : here, Sonia is brunette and Natasha is blonde, in the book it is the reverse, this point is essential. A blonde Natasha is unheard of. I would like to refer your readers to the good old book : Ivanhoe. At one point, Sir Walter Scott, through De Bois Guilbert, makes a comparison between blonde women and brunettes, and he says that women with dark hair have more zest, are more lively, have some inner fire, it is not a sic quotation but I remembered this remark because I thought it was quite to the point.

So Natasha, who is the pinnacle of life, if not life itself, cannot be a bland pale blonde, not that I would hurt blonds, but this Natasha lacks some sparks, some shine in her eyes. The rest of course is not important anymore.

Sorry, it is not up to par.

N.B.: I feel I must add a few lines to explain that the point I have made at Natasha being a blonde instead of a brunette as expressly required by Tolstoy, is not a futile headstrong idea of mine but is quite well based :

In Tolstoy's masterpiece, the young Countess Natasha is the epitome of absolute purity and youth, kindness, truthfulness,loyalty to friends, she is like a breath of fresh spring air, so he makes her a blue-eyed brunette. Her blond cousin Sonia is about her age, but she is more of a blur, and though she has many good qualities,she lacks this sparkle spring-like personality which is exemplified by Natasha.

At the end of the spectrum, the utmost evil woman is, as required by the author, the EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL BLOND Helene Kuragin, whose family is ruined and poor as a mice, and who manages to grasp the Count Bezukhov, not for love, or so she plays it, but of course for his immense fortune, which should help save hers. She is a real bi---, she is nasty, even before the marriage she gets a lover and gets her naive husband "des cornes" so big that the horns of a full grown-up male deer should seem small compared to what she makes her husband wear. But as there is Justice, she dies of her own infidelities....

In any case, if you have this evil Helen as a blond, how can you visualize a blond Natasha as being in a completely different category ? If the Director etc would have given to their Natasha blue lens and a brown or black wig, they might have done the trick, but they did not ask me, did they !!!!!

So now I hope IDMB readers will fully understand my point of view.