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"Any Human Heart" More at IMDbPro »
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| Index | 11 reviews in total |
41 out of 46 people found the following review useful:
Logan Mountstuart is Everyman., 7 December 2010
Author:
info-au-gay from France
William Boyd has shown himself to be one of the finest readers &
chroniclers of the Human Condition writing today. It is almost a badge
of honour that he has not won an award from one of the product
placement companies. My first exposure to his work was a short-story
called "The Persistence of Vision" - a perfect gem. Whenever I get
depressed with the current offerings in the shops, I revert and, within
seconds, I am transported. If I were to say that the life of Logan
Mountstuart parallels my own to an almost spooky degree, it is not to
say that I have played golf with some HRH & had my matches nicked. I
have never jumped from an airplane or worked as a spy. One thing is
certain: William Boyd is a far better writer than Ernest Hemingway ever
was.
Today, like Logan Mountstuart, as I sort out photographs and ancient
family papers, I find - often depressing - aspects of that earlier
life, the appalling personal loss of a loved one, letters of despair.
Here and there a picture drawn by a loved child.
As I said, Mountstuart is Everyman. He was not a bold boy; nor a bad
man. He was easily led, but he is a good man; honourable, in a way that
Peter Scabius was false. And so, Boyd leads us alongside this fallible
man; while we, on occasion, find ourselves aching to say to him
"Don't!" It would be better to read the book in the first instance; the
screenplay follows the same sequence and one is more prepared for the
jump-shifts in time. It is what I call a satisfying read; what I would
like to write if I had the talent.
The acting is universally faithful to the characters, especially
Matthew Mac Fadyean, who is utterly convincing & sympathetic.
If the producers are going to transfer this to DVD, please keep it
intact, as they did in the excellent VHS version of "Armadillo" - which
suffered badly in the compressed version, on DVD.
It is supremely gratifying to find that there is an audience who can
relate to great drama; who have the patience to follow a complex
storyline and debate its merits or otherwise. Sunday is going to seem
empty when it ends.
44 out of 60 people found the following review useful:
No heart, 19 December 2010
Author:
paul2001sw-1 (paul2001sw@yahoo.co.uk) from Saffron Walden, UK
There's a section in the memoirs of the philosopher Bertrand Russell
where he recalls an unexpected sexual encounter; he writes of it (in
among weighty reflections on the meaning of life and the foundations of
mathematics) with an almost puerile glee, like a child remembering
being locked in the sweet shop. And there was something of the same
tone - of baffled exultation, if you like - in a short story by the
writer William Boyd, supposedly comprising a portion of the journals of
a middle aged man called Logan Mountstewart (note the spelling),
recounting a not dissimilar tale. Boyd must have enjoyed writing this,
because a few years later he reconstructed the entire life of a renamed
Mounstuart, in his novel 'Any Human Heart'. The author gave his
character an accidentally interesting life, so that he happens to
witness many key stories in 20th century history; but what really gives
the book its quality is the believable nature of Logan's narrative
voice.
As a television drama, it's not nearly so successful. Most obviously,
Logan's own words are lost, leaving us the story without the
commentary. In its place, tedious flashbacks, and scenes of an elderly
Logan reviewing his life, just in case we had forgotten the plot.
Secondly, television is a much less imaginative medium, and many drama
series set over decades struggle to truly convey the passage of time.
'Our Friends in the North' was one that succeeded; this one does not.
The random happenings in Logan's life no longer appear like chance
events, retrospectively interesting, in a story driven by its own
imperatives, but rather as implausible plot; instead of Logan making
acquaintances who transpire to be famous, there's a feeling of shallow
name-dropping (here he meets Hemmingway, there the Duchess of Windsor);
and coincidences seem contrived when they're all there is. The
background of ordinary life, behind which Boyd so successfully
disguised his somewhat preposterous tale, is lost. I'm reminded of the
disastrous television adaptation of 'A Dance to the Music of Time';
that was worse, as it compressed not one book but thirteen, but there's
something of the same problem here. There are also other similarities,
in the tale of an aristocratic writer in an where aristocracy is in
decline. I didn't see the similarities when I read the book, but they
are enhanced not just because of the televisual medium but for other
reasons as well: the simplification of the character of Peter Scabius
(making him an almost Widmerpool-style figure), and a reluctance to
paint the world of Logan's youth in anything other than familiar
'Brideshead'-style colours. Related to the latter, the desire for a
certain aesthetic has led the director to cast a stunningly beautiful
woman in the role of almost everyone with whom Logan has an affair; the
younger Logan is also very dashing, although the older Logan is allowed
to age (he still has a final fling, however, with a very pretty French
lady, and before that, with an attractive prostitute). While the
original character had a messy personal life, there was never the
feeling of perpetual glamour one gets when watching this production. To
make it worse, we have to be shown Logan having sex with every one of
them, an unimaginative and eventually tiresomely repetitive decision.
What can be slyly implied in one line of a book becomes an endless
succession of sweaty bodies, as if we couldn't be trusted to imagine it
for ourselves.
This feels like a bitter review. But the book was good. It's become a
series that is merely good looking; and sadly, utterly lacking in
heart.
27 out of 30 people found the following review useful:
Classy, entertaining and with heart, 30 December 2010
Author:
TheLittleSongbird from United Kingdom
I read somewhere that Any Human Heart had poor viewing figures. If so,
that's quite sad, because this series was excellent. Ridiculous
sometimes yes, but it was also a classy and entertaining series and I
actually think it did have heart.
The book is a beautifully written and compelling one. And I think this
series does a respectable job adapting it. Is it as good? Probably not,
but the characters are faithful and great to watch and the story is
told in an adept way. The script is often funny, touching, edgy,
heart-warming and especially in the final episode reflective.
That's not all. The production values are exquisite. The scenery is
beautiful, the photography stunning and the costumes ravishing. The
music fits the mood of each scene perfectly, while the direction is
fully competent and the pace right on the money.
The acting is excellent across the board. Julien Ovendon is good as
Ernest Hemingway, while Kim Catrall's Gloria is the epitome of class
and Gillian Anderson's Duchess of Windsor pinched and terrifying.
Though it is the character of Logan who drives the drama, a very
interesting if flawed character Logan is played by a different actor
through different stages of his life. Logan as a child is played
appealingly by Connor Nealon, while Logan as a young man is nicely
portrayed by Sam Claflin. Matthew McFadyen is dashing, sympathetic and
very convincing as a more middle-aged Logan, while Jim Broadbent comes
off best in a brilliant, heartfelt and very reflective performance as
Logan in his older age.
In conclusion, I thought it was wonderful especially for the production
values and the acting. 10/10 Bethany Cox
9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Fiction, 21 February 2011
Author:
B24 from Arizona
I have not read the story on which the series is based. To the extent
that the filmed version aims to represent historical fact in linking
fictional characters to real ones, it is successful. Whether the
linkage is correct or appropriate is another matter. Some of the filmed
elements ring true, while others seem disjointed -- almost as if the
scriptwriter intends to play with the viewer's mind. Non-linear
storytelling is often like that, aiming for contrivance rather than
narrative.
Taken strictly as theater on film, it is a highly entertaining piece of
work. The camera pursues the protagonist (as played by three different
actors) with a compassionate yet critical eye, inviting the viewer to
pass judgment on his character by selectively picking out key episodes
irrespective of logical development leading to foregone conclusion.
This can be a sometimes gut-wrenching experience, not suited to lazy
acceptance of questionable motivation on the part of a flawed hero.
To put it simply, if there is any moral to the story it pales by
comparison to a theme of accidental and ineluctable passages in the
life of a minor player on the stage of history, enhanced by backdrops
of larger-than-life public figures and horrific events from the
twentieth century.
Watch it for great acting and superb cinematic design rather than mere
pleasure.
9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A magnificent and moving British mini-series, 4 March 2011
Author:
robert-temple-1 from United Kingdom
This amazing and truly brilliant mini-series is even better than A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (1997, see my review), which I did not think was possible. It is based on a novel by William Boyd, who has also scripted the series. It follows the life of one man, Logan Mountstuart, from the first decade of the 20th century up to the 1990s and his death. Along the way he is involved with a remarkable number of fascinating women, some of whom he marries, and he takes part in key events of his time. As a spy for British Naval Intelligence during the War, he is recruited by Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame), during his earlier time in Montparnasse he befriends Ernest Hemingway and some French avant garde poets, he writes a best-selling novel, he runs an art gallery, and he becomes far too intimately involved with the poisonous couple, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (both brilliantly portrayed by Tom Hollander and Gillian Anderson). Logan is played by three successive actors from his days at Oxford to old age: Sam Claflin, Matthew Macfadyen, and Jim Broadbent. All three of them are spectacularly brilliant, but the series is ultimately made by the wholly inspired performance of Matthew Macfadyen, one of British TV's finest actors, who was so wonderful in ENID (2009, see my review). Logan is a kind of everyman, but also someone who never really grew up properly. He retains a drifting and innocent air throughout his countless extraordinary adventures, and although most of his luck is bad and his successes are few, he is never less than fascinating. Macfadyen best of the three actors captures his abstracted and dreaming expression, for Logan is above all someone who lets his life happen to him. Or, as Wyndham Lewis put it in his essay on Ernest Hemingway entitled 'The Dumb Ox', Logan is not temperamentally one of 'those who do things', but is rather one of those 'to whom things are done' (Lewis maintained that this was just what was wrong with Hemingway's fiction). That is precisely why he is an everyman, since few of us is not essentially a victim of life and, frankly, I doubt that there is anyone who has ever truly directed the course of his own life. Such things just don't happen. But just because Logan is passive does not mean that he does not love and suffer like the best of us. The other main focus of the series, which holds the whole thing together, is the remarkable performance of Hayley Atwell as Freya, Logan's last wife, and the only woman he ever completely loves and with whom he has perfect happiness. The central tragedy of Logan's existence is that she, their daughter and their unborn child, were killed by a V-2 rocket in London during the War. Logan never recovers from this and sees recurring visions of her for the rest of his life. There are wonderful supporting performances from a large variety of talented actors and actresses. Amongst the women, Kim Cattrall as Gloria, Holliday Grainger as Tess, and Charity Wakefield who plays Land Fothergill, particularly stand out. Amongst the men, Samuel West stands out. But the charmer of the series is undoubtedly Hayley Atwell. She is so convincing as the 'love of Logan's life' that frankly anyone would want to be married to her. It is impossible to define sufficiently her unique warmth and the strangely fascinating manner she has in the role, much of which appears to be natural to her, since the DVD contains interviews with her and other cast members as well as William Boyd, all of which are interesting. But when one considers all of this, one realizes that the series succeeded ultimately because of its remarkably brilliant director, Michael Samuels, about whom no biographical information of any kind appears on IMDb, but only his credits. He has never made a feature film and has worked entirely in television, but surely that should change, since this series is clearly a work of genius. He was certainly aided by his Polish cinematographer, Wojciech Szepel, in obtaining some extraordinarily imaginative and creative shots. But the credit for pulling this all together, indeed for pulling it off at all, lies with the director. A series like this can readily fail unless everyone is in top form, and above all that must be the director. No matter how talented the actors may be, they have to be coaxed and cosseted into delivering their best, made to feel confident and secure, and given gentle support. Actors and actresses are all, fundamentally, like little children who want above all to please and to be loved in return. They must never be allowed to ruin the furniture, but otherwise they need encouragement and guidance. Not many directors can get away with making brilliant movies whilst screaming at their actors, like Otto Preminger. So for lack of any information about him whatever, and assuming of him only that 'a man is known by his works', we must conclude that Michael Samuels must have a truly impressive bedside manner and immense professional ability. I cannot remotely imagine how anyone could write an unfavourable review of this mini-series, as it is a masterpiece of quality television drama. It is deeply, powerfully moving, it stirs the emotions at every level, and it conveys an overwhelming sense of a 'lived life' in all its fullness, its intense pathos, its rare joys and triumphs, and its all too frequent tragedies. I have never read anything by William Boyd, but I imagine he must be a very fine novelist, to judge from this. And he evidently has superior abilities to reduce, compress, and refine his own work for another medium. He clearly understands the difference between a novel and a script and swims with equal ease in both seas. Everyone involved with this wonderful project should be so proud.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
If only all television drama was this good, 6 September 2011
Author:
Leofwine_draca from United Kingdom
An outstanding TV drama, superbly made and never less than engaging.
The three-part ANY HUMAN HEART is in some ways a portrait of the 20th
century, taking us through wars, political tribulations and the
loneliness of modern times. Poignancy, romance, sex, death and drama,
everything you could wish for in a show is present here.
The actors are excellent. Jim Broadbent embodies weariness and Matthew
Macfadyen gives a career-best turn. Hayley Atwell is simply glorious,
while Gillian Anderson deservedly won a BAFTA for her turn as the
terrifying Wallis Simpson. The production values for this are top-notch
and the story draws the viewer in from the very beginning. I repeat,
outstanding.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Neither loved it or hated it with nice production features, 28 February 2011
Author:
mhlong from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I only saw the two final episodes, so I missed some of the build-up,
but I found it sort in interesting. One review said our hero was at key
points in history, actually, he wasn't, he just happened to meet some
people who were or became semi-famous. And anyway wouldn't we all
remember what we were doing at key points, more so than most of our day
to day lives? I liked the changing times and scenery and how Logan
Mountstewart managed through and around them. I thought he was
certainly lucky enough to have several fortunate events to come his way
when he needed them the most such as Gloria (ex wife of a good friend)
coming to pass the last days of her life just as he about destitute and
bringing in some money, and then being bequeathed a house in France by
somebody he barely met years before. I wish somebody would bequeath me
a house! Typical 19th century English novel convenience. (see Jane
Eyre) I found it a little hard to believe that he could abandon a
dwelling for long periods of time, and then show up at them and have
them not only be livable, but in fairly good repair. Houses don't work
like that. But the running down of his flat over years was handled
quite well.
Once I understood that, one, these were scenes from his life that he
was recalling with some fondness, and two, that women played an
important part in them (eight mostly which is where 'Octet' came from),
it became a little interesting to see how he would fare.
One sequence I did find interesting, Kim Cattrell basically playing her
age - and aging. And one sequence that should have affected me more
because if done right, I can really get into it - his death was more
happenstance than emotional. It was like, OK, he died, becoming a
little better known and successful after death than he was while
living.
That leads to one of the bigger drawbacks of the production, basically
everything was 'telegraphed' way in advance. It took a lot of the drama
out. You knew the Duke and Duchess of Windsor would turn on him; you
knew, everyone he loved would die almost tragically; you knew his last
- sort of - love did not really know the past and he would be rejected
when he found out and told her of it.
Finally, one amusing but also embarrassing scene - Jim Broadbent trying
to convince some 20-something left wing radicals that he had a lot in
common with them. Neither his image nor the entire portrayal of Logan
would lead anyone to accept that.
Most the reviews so far are either gushing orchid letters or scathing
criticisms. It warrants neither. Some good and some bad, with good
production values, which is why it's a generous 6.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Good piece of work, 29 June 2012
Author:
hasnoform
Certainly very well made and exceptionally well-acted. An interesting story of a man's life and the trials and happiness he is subjected to. The main character seems often irrevocably drawn back to memories of his past, painful ones and the melancholy of happiness which has missed his grasp. Tom Hollander was incredible, the release he had in some of his scenes and his whole characterisation was immaculate. Matthew McFaddyn too was engaging. Exceptionally good dialogue too which is essential for any drama, or any comedy for that matter, to work. Intriguing insight into corruption and the way people in positions of power are able to twist the lives of those beneath them.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A Don't Miss for the Cosmopolite, 18 November 2011
Author:
donmac117 from United States
As someone who bounced around in the film and TV industry, I was
enthralled with the spot on accuracy of this series. It captured that
unique culture of celebrity and those who prosper on the periphery of
fame and fortune. When Gloria put a fork in Mountstuart's hand, I knew
I had seen a true cinematic moment of genius. Kim Cattrall is
immortalized in this scene in Episode 3, as the most desirable of women
who torment the sophisticated man. Important social record, great
enjoyment and fun.
If you aren't Logan, you certainly recognize him in the milieu of the
era that his character was created in the novel that inspired the
series. Just surviving WWII was quite a feat for an Englishman.
Surviving the heart-breaking loss of wife and child made all that
followed in Logan's career story so true to those of us who were not
far away at the time.
0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A full life's saga well told, 29 March 2011
Author:
kdemko from United States
Going into the Masterpiece Classic presentation of "Any Human Heart" on
DVD, I had conflicting thoughts.
First up was that though I haven't read the book its based on by
William Boyd, he is one of my favorite writers, with his last two
thrillers, "Restless" and "Ordinary Thunderstorms," being two of the
genre's best. And second, though as a Southerner I probably shouldn't
admit this so regularly, I really can't much at all stand "Forrest
Gump," so the story structure of "Any Human Heart," one man's life
through most of the 20th century in which he rubs elbows with many
famous people, gave me pause.
Thankfully, Boyd's story really borrows only that basic outline from
"Gump," but with less overbearing sentimentality and a lot more,
sometimes very dark, wit. Boyd's novel and the four-part BBC series
presented here tell the story of "writer" Logan Mountstuart, with the
quotation marks in place because though he accomplished and experienced
many things in his long life, he only managed to write two novels.
Though the four-and-a-half-hour long series is a bit bloated by
thoroughly unnecessary fantasy sequences that pop up throughout
starring Mountstuart as a child, he's for the most part played by three
very good English actors, Sam Claflin as the college-age Mountstuart,
Matthew MacFadyen (who the ladies may remember from the version of
"Pride & Prejudice" also starring Keira Knightley) as him in middle
age, and the great Jim Broadbent as Mountstuart the elder.
Throughout Mountstuart's saga, however, it's the women he loved and
lost that play the most important parts. As the story opens,
Broadbent's Mountstuart, clearly in fading health, is putting back
together the pieces of his life using his memories of the women who had
made it memorable. Standing out in a large ensemble are the radiant
Hayley Atwell as Freya, the real love of his life, Kim Cattrall as
Gloria, who gives the series much of its soul, and an unrecognizable
but very funny Gillian Anderson as the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis
Simpson.
Anderson and co-conspirator Tom Hollander as the duke bring a comic
edge to the story as Mountstuart, enlisted as a "spy" during World War
II, mostly spends his time tracking down what happened to the former
king after the story told in "The King's Speech," at least as Boyd
imagines it. Often dark humor thankfully runs throughout "Any Human
Heart," as when later in life Mountstuart, simply in search of cheap
health care, ends up brushing up against Germany's Baader Meinhof gang
and later, in his last romantic conquest, gets involved with a French
woman more than a little confused about her ancestry.
But the beauty of "Any Human Heart" often comes not from these grand
adventures (he also manages to meet Ernest Hemingway and Ian Fleming,
who recruits him into the spying ranks), but in the failures that make
for a well-rounded life. As Mountstuart manages to crap out on two
marriages he was never terribly interested in and then get involved
with his dead son's 16-year-old girlfriend (yes, he is more than a bit
of a cad), it becomes harder and harder to cheer for him, but
Macfadyen's layered performance makes you appreciate the man in whole,
many warts and all.
In the end, though, it's Broadbent who both gives the story its arc and
brings it home with tenderness, particularly in his scenes with
Cattrall, ultimately making this well worth checking out when it hits
DVD next Tuesday, April 5 (yes, I'm writing this a bit early because it
doubles as a newspaper column that comes out on Friday.) P.S.: One
final note about editing: Though I didn't manage to catch this when it
aired on PBS, I've heard that it was rather poorly edited, perhaps to
remove some of the racier scenes that make Mountstuart's life so
enjoyable, but this is the complete BBC version, so there's no need to
worry about that.
http://reelfanatic.blogspot.com
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