Birdsong (2012– )

As an English soldier fights in the horrific trenches of northern France, he is haunted by the memories of his forbidden love affair with a French woman.

Stars:

Eddie Redmayne, Clémence Poésy, Matthew Goode

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Eddie Redmayne	...	Stephen Wraysford (2 episodes, 2012)
Clémence Poésy	...	Isabelle (2 episodes, 2012)
Matthew Goode	...	Captain Gray (2 episodes, 2012)
Rory Keenan	...	Private Brennan (2 episodes, 2012)
Thomas Turgoose	...	Private Tipper (2 episodes, 2012)
Richard Madden	...	Captain Weir (2 episodes, 2012)
Joseph Mawle	...	Jack Firebrace (2 episodes, 2012)
Simon Nehan	...	Evans (2 episodes, 2012)
Daniel Cerqueira	...	Shaw (2 episodes, 2012)
Nicholas Moss	...	RSM Price (2 episodes, 2012)
Marie-Josée Croze	...	Jeanne (2 episodes, 2012)
Matthew Aubrey	...	Private Byrne (2 episodes, 2012)
Paul Rattray	...	Tyson (2 episodes, 2012)
Misi Dunai	...	Riley (2 episodes, 2012)
Piroska Molnár	...	Marguerite (2 episodes, 2012)

Storyline

As an English soldier fights in the horrific trenches of northern France, he is haunted by the memories of his forbidden love affair with a French woman.

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Plot Keywords:

france | soldier | world war one | based on novel | based on book

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Genres:

Drama | History | Romance | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 April 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Linnulaul

Filming Locations:

Raleigh Studios Budapest- Felsokert utca 9, Budapest, Hungary

Company Credits

Production Co:

Working Title Television, Masterpiece, NBC Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

165 min 165 min (2 parts)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Wright Stuff: Episode #17.10 (2012)

User Reviews

Beautifully photographed but dull

I was expecting much from Birdsong. I had read the book three years ago for my English A Levels course, and found myself utterly transfixed by the poignant and gut-wrenching story. Since then, Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong has become one of my favourite books of all time. This series does have its good parts. It is photographed beautifully, exquisitely even, the scenery is wonderful in the whole part of the story before Stephen goes off to war, I liked the contrast between the lush pre-war scenes and the bleak colour palette of war itself the music is effective in its simplicity and there are two good performances, the scene-stealing Jack Firebrace of Joseph Mawle and the emotionally complex Jeanne of Marie-Josee Croze. Sadly, I never found myself convinced by the story and characters. This is not helped by a script that is largely incoherent, characters that excepting perhaps Jeanne are lifeless cardboard cut-outs(I know they are not likable characters to begin with but still there is a difference between that and the characters having no life at all) and sluggish pacing. I also found Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Posey miscast, Redmayne is handsome certainly but he was also wooden and uncharismatic while Posey has no chemistry with him and looks like twenty years younger than her novelistic counterpart. The story has scenes that are either condensed(naturally considering the time) or almost endlessly stretched out(not so much), but it was the lack of atmosphere and drama that really spoiled Birdsong. The intimate scenes between Stephen and Isabelle weren't that intimate to me as both actors looked in pain during those scenes, and the war scenes due to the poorly rendered battlefields weren't poignant, tense or gut-wrenching enough. Overall, does have some good things such as the beautiful photography, but the pacing and lack of drama made Birdsong rather dull in my opinion, sorry. 5/10 Bethany Cox