Retro-casting suggestion for Marguerite!
After watching the 1980s version of A Tale of Two Cities, the only idea I came away with was - 'She would have made a perfect Marguerite!' (Didn't think much to the adaptation, or to the story.)
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Well, I made it through, but I was also reading a book at the same time - and not Dickens, I hasten to add! I just looked up at the loud parts. I have yet to find an adaptation that is enough to sway me - I didn't get through the first half hour of the Dirk Bogarde monstrosity. I really want to be able to persevere with, if not enjoy A Tale of Two Cities, but I can't - just the first part, with Manette in the tower, is enough to switch off my brain. I did enjoy Jerry Cruncher, the ubiquitous comic relief in Dickens' stories, and thought John Mills acted well - naturally - but the three leads were insipid and barely likeable. (And Anna Massey, daughter of Raymond, AKA Chauvelin, played Lucie's maid.) Is Lucie Minette enough of a character for an actress to portray with any life? I don't know. I just kept wondering why Sydney Tupperware was still in love with her; he should have met the little seamstress woman earlier!
Jane Seymour is a fine Marguerite, and at least she can play 'the most beautiful woman in France' without being done under the Trade Descriptions Act, but she is still lacking - something. The search continues!
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That could be it. I am in no way condoning the choice of casting, but Elizabeth McGovern had more of a screen presence, I think. Any actress playing Maguerite should sort of hold the scene when she is on, even if the action is not directly concerning her.
How are you coming on the Opera Box, by the way?
Damn. Spotted. ;) I am struggling; your reply that you had quickly condensed the chapter into a short scene freaked me out! I think I need to trim it more, but I want to stay close to the book, and I have a 'vision' (not in a scary way) of how it should play, but I don't know how to write it. Me and my big mouth! I shall try and get it down as quickly as possible.
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