Daniel Deronda

DVD review from The Movie Snob

Daniel Deronda (B+). I didn’t realize it when I had my girlfriend Netflix this DVD, but this is actually a BBC miniseries rather than a movie. But Entertainment Weekly recommended it, and I enjoyed it just like EW said I would. It is 1870s England, and Daniel Deronda (Hugh Dancy) is a handsome young man trying to decide what to do with his life. He has been raised by a rich aristocrat, Sir Hugo, whom everyone assumes sired Daniel out of wedlock, but he has never talked to Daniel about it, and Daniel does not even know who his mother was. In a parallel story, Gwendolyn Harleth (Romola Garai, I Capture the Castle) is a young woman whose father is dead and whose family is falling on hard times. She foolishly marries a wealthy but cruel man for his money, but she seems to have an instantaneous bond with Daniel when they first encounter each other. And for three and a half hours, the stories of her marriage and his quest to find himself unfold, with some unexpected twists and turns. I liked it.