10:30PM BST 14 Sep 2012
There were shades of Evelyn Waugh in tonight's penultimate instalment of Parade's End (BBC Two), Tom Stoppard's lush, languorous adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's Edwardian tetralogy. Darkly humorous in tone, it found the putty-mouthed aristocrat Christopher Tietjens (Benedict Cumberbatch) stationed in a base depot near Rouen, fed up with the monotony and harebrained bureaucracy of life on the Western Front.
Though within range of German artillery, this was supposedly a safe posting; his day-to-day duties involved ordering fire extinguishers and dreaming of his would-be lover Valentine Wannop (Adelaide Clemens).
There was a problem, however, in the form of his wife, Sylvia (the wonderful Rebecca Hall). Determined to get written approval from her husband to move into his family estate, Groby, Sylvia decided that she wanted to pay him a visit – despite General Campion (Roger Allam) being vehemently against the idea. “I’ve never known a woman like her," he fumed. "On no account is Mrs Tietjens to be allowed within 50 miles of Rouen, understood? I will not have skirts around my HQ."
Nevertheless, we watched as she charmed her way through France to show up at the General's camp. Indeed, Sylvia remained the most compelling thing about Parade's End: alluring, insouciant and deliciously duplicitous. We also saw her display a rare moment of vulnerability. “I haven’t had a man for five years," she said to her husband, sorrowfully. "I haven't let myself be kissed or touched. Not once. Not since Perowne (Tom Mison). Potty Perowne. Can you see how I must have been feeling to go with a fool like Perowne?" It made for affecting television.
READ MORE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9544475/Parades-End-episode-four-BBC-Two-review.html
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