Costume dramas are my ultimate movie comfort food. The gowns, the tights, the manners, the buildup to the chaste (and not so chaste) final act kisses–nothing else is quite so satisfying. It’s a genre that is rooted in familiar tropes and familiar characters and as a viewer I wouldn’t have it any other way. Romantic costume dramas are timeless; they speak to that part of us that wants to indulge in fantasies of restrained courtships, forbidden love and dallying with Colin Firth on picturesque moors despite our modern sensibilities.
Plus they’re always pure eye candy. Not just the clothes, but the stately manors and seemingly untouched countryside locales too. They transport us to a different time and place, but more importantly they let us check our cynicism at the door and allow ourselves to embrace the gooey romanticism of pretty people wearing pretty clothes and falling madly in love with one another.
1. Jayne Eyre (2011)
Whoever decided to cast Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester deserves an Oscar. Maybe even ten of them. His brooding was mesmerizing enough to almost make me forget how much I tend to hate Mr. Rochester after the attic reveal. Equally wonderful was Mia Wasikowska’s seamless embodiment of Jane’s reserved, but powerful spirit.
Together their chemistry felt hauntingly true to the Gothic classic’s roots even as it took liberties with just how passionate Jane and Mr. Rochester may have gotten. The adaptation deserves extra kudos for its lush cinematography and direction that dialed up the inherent spookiness of the story. Thornfield had never looked quite so foreboding before, and Mr. Rochester had never looked so inviting.
2. Sense and Sensibility (1996)
Emma Thompson earned a best adapted screenplay Oscar for writing Sense and Sensibility and that was an Oscar well earned. She infused her adaptation with all of the strong familial ties and polite courtships that make Sense and Sensibility so irresistible, and with help from Ang Lee behind the camera, she brought the world of 19th century England to life. A world that happened to be populated with British heavy hitters like Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie and the incomparable Alan Rickman.
After their father’s death, the Dashwood sisters have to face the hard realities of being single women in a time when inheritances passed to male heirs (this should sound familiar to Downton Abbey fans). Their story is one where financial concerns are as ever present as romantic ones. Speaking of which, Sense and Sensibility‘s romantic plotlines have more twists and turns than a spy drama, creating an air of suspense that romance movies usually can’t muster due to their inherent happily ever after set ups.
Read more: http://www.filmequals.com/2012/05/08/5-costume-dramas-that-will-satisfy-your-inner-hopeless-romantic/
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