North & South (film)

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Movie
German title North & South
Original title North & South
Country of production GB
original language English
Publishing year 2004
length 4 episodes, a total of 208 and 233 minutes respectively
Age rating FSK 6/12
Rod
Director Brian Percival
script Sandy Welch
production Kate Bartlett
music Martin Phipps
camera Peter Greenhalgh
Steve Murray
cut Kristina Hetherington
occupation
synchronization

North & South is the second film adaptation of the BBC on the eponymous novel by Elizabeth Gaskell . The film is set in Victorian England around 1850 against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution . During this time, the predominantly southern English landed gentry , who lived on the income from their property and land, lost their social importance, while the “industrial nobility ”, the rich factory owners from northern England, became increasingly numerous and politically influential. The film depicts the emergence of the first unions with some sympathy, but follows Gaskell's conservative or reformist perspective and preaches the reconciliation of class differences. Cooperatives, not unions, cooperation, not confrontation are presented as the solution to burning social problems.

Charisma

The four-part television series was first broadcast once a week in Great Britain on BBC One from November 14 to December 5, 2004. In German-speaking countries the first episode of the miniseries was on the Pay TV transmitter RTL Passion premiered on October 7, 2012 at the evening program, but the German dubbed version was released in 2006 on DVD .

action

Margaret Hale, daughter of a rural pastor in the south of England, belongs to the upper class because of her origins and upbringing, although her parents do not have any assets of their own. They live in an idyllic rectory in Helston, Hampshire , paradise on earth for Margaret. However, Margaret is very direct and naive. This becomes clear when she turns down attorney Henry Lennox's marriage proposal. This accuses her of having encouraged him inappropriately by her statements and not behaving like a London lady.

Margaret, her ailing mother and long-time servant Dixon are shocked when Mr. Hale turns to nonconformity , leaves the Anglican Church and the family loses home and income. However, Mr. Hale emphasizes to his daughter the importance of following one's conscience. The Hales move to the north of England in the up-and-coming industrial town of Milton in Darkshire, where Mr Hale can work as a private tutor through the mediation of his fellow student Mr Bell, including in a Sunday school for factory workers. There are many rumors circulating here about the reasons for his leaving the church.

Margaret is shocked not only by the contrast between the familiar Helston rural idyll and elegant London and the dirty industrial city, but also by Milton society, made up of wealthy factory owners whom she does not regard as " gentlemen " and socially equal. Cotton is the clothing of the lower class there, while the elegant society dresses in linen. She is also appalled by the living and working conditions of the workers in the flourishing cotton industry there . When she enters a factory hall, she can hardly breathe because of the cotton dust. In a letter to her base in London, she describes Milton as a white hell because of the cotton fibers flying around the factories.

The first time he met the charismatic factory owner John Thornton, a student of her father's, he beats up a worker because he was smoking in the factory hall. Margaret is horrified. Thornton, however, is fascinated by her. But since he is aware of her opinion about him, he does not expect any chances with her. Thornton studies the works of Plato with Margaret's father , the two become friends, and the father rebukes his daughter for her condescending behavior towards Thornton and her refusal to shake his hand. Thornton is proud that he worked his way up to a factory owner after his father went bankrupt through speculation and the family lived in poverty for a long time. He believes that it makes economic sense to improve the living conditions of the workers and, unlike the other manufacturers, has therefore installed a fan in his spinning mill, which increases the lifespan of the children in particular. His mother is still helping out in the factory and is very proud of her son, whom she doesn't want to share with another woman. In this way she discreetly thwarted any closer contact with Margaret. Thornton's sister Fanny has a typical nouveau riche behavior and likes to throw money around, which makes the impoverished Margaret disliked. The Thorntons only know the north, for Fanny London is as mythical as the Alhambra , which she knows from the works of Washington Irving .

Spinning machines in the Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, one of the filming locations

Margaret befriends worker Bessy Higgins, daughter of local union leader Nicholas Higgins, who suffers from cotton- pollen. This friendship gives her a deeper insight into the poor living conditions of the workers. Since the Hales cannot afford another servant - since the women can work in the factory, they are unwilling to accept low wages and poor working conditions - Margaret does not have to help with the household in keeping with her status and learns to wash, iron and strengthen which, however, she does largely without complaint.

Organized by Higgins, the city's cotton workers join forces. After a meeting in a hall brokered by Hale, they go on strike to enforce a wage increase. With neither party willing to give in, the strike dragged on for weeks and the workers were starving. Margaret tries to alleviate their distress as much as possible. However, this brings them into conflict with Thornton and the other factory owners. A riot breaks out when the starving workers find out that Thornton had brought scabs out of Ireland. The principled but naive Margaret persuades Thornton to talk to the workers. However, these are bitter. Margaret tries to mediate and stands between Thornton and the angry crowd. She is hit in the head by a brick that was made for Thornton. The uprising is crushed by the army and the outbreak of violence also ends the strike and weakens the union.

Thornton, encouraged by Margaret's demeanor, proposes marriage the next day, but Margaret refuses. She believes Thornton is only trying to protect her reputation, and sees herself confirmed again in her view that he is not a gentleman. She gives him to understand this in clear words.

The Crystal Palace, site of the 1851 London World's Fair

Soon afterwards, Margaret's friend Bessy Higgins dies of cotton dust lung. Margaret travels to London for the World's Fair at her mother's insistence . Thornton has exhibited spinning machines here to attract investors. The machines impress Margaret's friends, but they are outraged by his rude reaction to their “southern frivolity”. Even his sister Fanny calls him a ruffian.

The condition of Margaret's mother, who has been ill for a long time, is rapidly deteriorating. Margaret informs her brother Frederick, who lives in Cadiz . He faces the death penalty for mutiny in England, which is why the Hales never mention him. When Frederick secretly rushes to his mother's deathbed, he is recognized by the seedy Leonard, who knows that his head has a reward. That same night Margaret brings Frederick back to the train station so that he can safely leave the country again. Thornton watches as she hugs him goodbye, but does not know that he is her brother. Before Frederick can get on the train, Leonards appears. A scuffle ensues in which Leonards falls down a flight of stairs, but gets up and disappears. Frederick just manages to catch the train to London. Leonards is found dead a little later. As witnesses to the scuffle recognized Margaret, she is questioned by a police inspector. Margaret, who does not know whether her brother has already left the country and fears for his safety, denies having been at the station. The policeman threatens her with a public confrontation with the witnesses, where she has to present an alibi. When Thornton, the magistrate responsible for the investigation, learns of Margaret's involvement in the matter, he closes the investigation. Margaret realizes that Thornton thinks she brought a lover to the train station and knows about her lie too. It is only when she is aware that she has lost his good opinion that she gradually realizes how much it meant to her. Thornton's mother warns Margaret that her reputation is in jeopardy and that people are "talking".

Fanny, Thornton's sister, has become engaged to Watson, an elderly spinning mill owner, and plans a glamorous wedding without worrying about how her brother should pay her.

Thornton now hires Nicholas Higgins for Margaret's sake, who has been blacklisted since the strike and cannot get a job. However, he must promise him to stop all union activity, work hard and "leave his brain at home". Higgins betrays the union's ideals as he cares for the orphaned children of a colleague Boucher who drowned himself in desperation. In the period that followed, the two men came together and developed an understanding of the other's position. Higgins sets up a cooperative in an empty old shed that Thornton magnanimously makes available , in which his surviving daughter Mary cooks for the workers. After all, Thornton and his workers eat stew here, one of the most unbelievable scenes in the film. Thornton is facing increasing economic difficulties. Since he was unable to fulfill his orders due to the strike, he can no longer meet his credit obligations. A banker friend invites him to speculate, but Thornton refuses, as he does not want to endanger the workers' wages. Increasingly, he has to lay off workers.

When Margaret's father dies while visiting his friend Bell in Oxford , she returns to London to live with her aunt. However, she does not feel comfortable here as she has got used to an independent way of life. Her former admirer Henry Lennox is courting her again, and her cousin, his sister-in-law, would like to see the two married. Her godfather, Mr Bell, who is terminally ill, is giving her his fortune. Thornton must confirm this in his capacity as justice of the peace . Refusing to help the increasingly desperate Thornton, Bell retires to Argentina for his final months. Margaret misses Milton and realizes that she has always romanticized the South and its supposedly idyllic living conditions. During a visit to Helston with Bell, she realizes that a lot has changed here too: the new pastor cleared the rose garden to make room for his seven children.

The historic Bluebell Railway wagon , similar to those used in the film

Thornton has to close the factory. It is around this time that he learns from Higgins that the man he saw Margaret with at the train station was her brother. He travels to Helston and there plucks a yellow rose that has survived in a hedge - how he knows of its significance for Margaret remains unclear.

Margaret wants to help Thornton and invest in his factory, ironically money Bell had made through successful speculation. She travels back north to bring this to Thornton as a purely business proposition. In Milton, however, she only meets his mother in the empty factory, who accuses her of malicious pleasure in her misfortune. On the way back, Thornton and Margaret meet by chance at a train station. After all misunderstandings are cleared up, they realize they love each other and Margaret returns to Milton with Thornton. The film ends with a public kissing scene on the platform, which would have been more than scandalous in Victorian times.

people

Margaret Hale - the main female character in the film. She belongs to the southern English gentry , is intelligent, outspoken and energetic, but initially filled with arrogance. She falls in love with Thornton.

Richard Hale - the father of Margaret. He is a country pastor who leaves the church due to a crisis of faith. He moves with his family to Milton in the north of England to work as a private tutor.

Maria Hale - Margaret's ailing mother. She cannot come to terms with the loss of her social position, the move to Milton and the society there.

Frederick Hale - the brother of Margaret. He is a former naval officer who lives in Spain, facing the death penalty for mutiny in England. For this reason he is never mentioned by his family. He secretly pays a visit when his mother is dying and gets Margaret into trouble.

Dixon - longtime Hales maid, loyal to Mrs. Hale

Edith - Margaret's married cousin and pen pal is part of the "better society" of London.

Aunt Shaw - Margaret's aunt and Edith's mother.

Henry Lennox - London attorney and Edith's brother-in-law. He makes a marriage proposal to Margaret, which she refuses.

Mr. Bell - friend of Mr. Hale and Margaret's godfather. He is overwriting his considerable fortune to Margaret.

John Thornton - male protagonist of the film who falls in love with Margaret. He is the owner of a cotton mill and the magistrate of the northern English city of Milton. After the family went bankrupt, he worked his way up to factory owner again in just 16 years and offers his workers comparatively good working conditions.

Hannah Thornton - Thornton's mother. She is intelligent, energetic, and strong-willed, and infatuated with her son.

Fanny Thornton - Thornton's sister. She is self-centered, superficial, and only interested in her own well-being. Marries Mr. Watson, who owns a cotton mill, for financial reasons only.

Jane - a maid of the Thorntons is engaged to Leonards, a do-it-all.

Williams - Thornton's factory supervisor

Mr. Latimer - Thornton's banker

Anne Latimer - Mr. Latimer's daughter, friend of Fanny

Mr. Watson - owner of a cotton mill; Fanny's fiance

Mr. Hamper - owner of a cotton mill

Mr. Slickson - owner of a cotton mill

Bessy Higgins - factory worker and Margaret's friend. Dies of the occupational disease of cotton pulp.

Nicholas Higgins - Bessy's father. He is a worker and union leader and organizes a strike to push through wage increases.

Mary Higgins - Bessy's sister

Boucher - worker and involuntary union member. He is one of the ringleaders of the uprising and eventually commits suicide.

Stevens - worker at Thornton's factory. Despite the smoking ban, he is caught smoking in the factory, so Thornton beats him up and sacked him.

Leonards - southerner who recognizes Frederick Hale. He dies under unexplained circumstances after a scuffle with Frederick.

Inspector Mason - policeman investigating the death of Leonards

production

Differences from the novel

The film adaptation sticks closely to the novel in the plot, but some scenes and characters are interpreted more freely.

  • Miss Latimer does not appear in the novel. Her (silent) role was only built into the film to illustrate Margaret's awakening jealousy.
  • The role of Mr. Bell is much more ironic than in the book. In the book, he dies, leaving Margaret his fortune. In the film, he writes over his fortune to her and retires to South America when he learns that he is terminally ill. The change was made so as not to add another fatality to the mood of the film.
  • The first encounter between Margaret and Thornton takes place in the novel in the hotel, not in the factory. In the novel, Margaret never enters the factory.
  • Thornton is introduced as irascible and violent in the film by assaulting the worker, which he is not in the book. In the book, Margaret only looks down on him because he is a manufacturer, while in the film the focus is on treating his workers.
  • In the book, Thornton is intrigued by a bracelet on Margaret's arm during his tea visit. The bracelet does not play a role in the film.
  • In the book Thornton confesses his love to Margaret, who is unconscious after being hit in the head, but not in the film.
  • In the book, Margaret is seen at the train station around 5:30 p.m. with Frederick holding her hand. In the film, it's after 11 p.m.
  • The inspector is called Watson in the book and Mason in the movie.
  • In the film, Margaret visits the London World's Fair of 1851 while her mother is sick , where she meets Thornton again. This scene does not appear in the book. In terms of content, a meeting that took place in the book towards the end at a dinner party in Edith's house was processed.
  • In the final scene of the film Margaret and Thornton meet again by chance at a train station, where she makes him her business proposal. In the book, Henry Lennox had met Thornton in London and invited them to Edith's dinner party. The next day Margaret asks Henry and Thornton for a business meeting at Edith's house. In addition, the scene in the film is much more passionate than described in the book. Especially this change in the scene and the setting has led to some criticism, because in Victorian times such behavior in public would have been extremely improper.

Locations

William Street in Edinburgh in May 2004 during filming

Filming began at the end of April 2004 and lasted 12½ weeks until July 2004.

  • The main locations were Edinburgh , Keighley (West Yorkshire) and London , with Edinburgh filmed most of the exterior shots intended to portray Milton and Victorian London.
View from Carlton Hill in Edinburgh to "Milton"
  • Three locations were used for the Marlborough Mills cotton mill: Dalton Mill in Keighley, West Yorkshire for the exterior shots and Queen Street Mill in Harle Syke, Burnley ( Lancashire ) and the Helmshore Mills Textile Museum in Helmshore, Rossendale (Lancashire) for the interior shots.
  • The two-story Hales house with the entire stairwell was completely rebuilt at Ealing Studios in London. The Hales kitchen was also used as the Higgins' apartment.
  • The Helstone scenes were filmed in Hambleden , Buckinghamshire.

Trivia

St. Stephen's Church in Edinburgh, the site of the "300 Mile View"
  • The opening scene of Margaret going to Milton for the first time was the last scene to be filmed.
  • The yellow roses surrounding the rectory in Helstone are all man-made and took hours of painstaking work to install.
  • To emphasize the difference between Helstone and Milton, the opening scenes in Helstone have emphasized the greens, while in Milton the colors have been muted. As the film progresses, this gradually changes to illustrate Margaret's habituation to Milton.
  • The scene in which Margaret climbs the stairs to the unionists' meeting and is watched by Thornton is called the "300 Mile View" because the stairs are in Edinburgh, the window Thornton is said to be watching her from. however it was filmed in London.
  • Only one train was used in the final scene. One day the scenes were filmed on one side of the station, the next those on the opposite side.
  • The kiss scene at the train station was filmed 3 to 4 times from each of the four camera positions.
  • Tim Pigott-Smith (Mr. Hale) played Frederick Hale in the 1975 film adaptation.

Press reviews

  • The Times : An intelligent, moving, thought-provoking, and visually impressive adaptation.
  • Sunday Express: This is pride and prejudice with a social conscience, a collision between the straightforwardness of the North and the delicate delicacy of the South.
  • The Independent : ... North and South is an elaborate production that relies on a strong ensemble ... In many ways it is a very modern story of shortening working hours and the clash of different classes and cultures, and it offers a compelling one View of the gap between north and south. Perhaps even more disturbing, however, is that it's a drama that leaves one wondering how much has actually changed.
  • The Hollywood Reporter : A historical drama could hardly be more outstanding than this British-produced "pride and prejudice" -style historical piece that is full of passion, tension, class struggle and simmering sexual energy. ... In short: a beautifully produced historical mini-series that is practically overflowing with quality.
  • VideoWoche: Victorian social rigidity , the upheavals of industrialization and dramatic class struggles are reflected in a four-hour BBC adaptation of a literary classic by Elizabeth Gaskell. ... Great feelings in a historical context, friends of epic romances sob along with them.
  • Movieman.de: The result is an appealing drama that offers an exact replica of bygone times and knows how to convince with lots of local color. KSM has discovered a little pearl here that fans of "pride and prejudice" should like. Outstanding is Richard Armitage as John Thornton. He exudes a lot of charisma and is a mime that you definitely have to keep an eye on. It is amazing that Hollywood has not yet noticed him. Conclusion: Great British drama.

Awards

In the BBC's online audience poll, North & South was voted “Best TV Drama 2004” and the leading actors Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe “Best Actor” and “Best Actress” respectively.

German version

The German version appeared on DVD for the first time in 2006 and has been shortened by approx. 25 minutes compared to the English original. 54 scenes were completely or partially cut, including almost all scenes with Fanny as well as large parts of the background for the strike and Thornton's financial difficulties. In the meantime, the unabridged version in German was published in 2010 under the title North & South (long version) .

Voice actor

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Passion shows BBC multi-part series “Elisabeth Gaskells North & South”. wunschliste.de, August 16, 2012, accessed on February 3, 2013 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Bartlett, Kate; Percival, Brian and Welch, Sandy. Audio commentary on the North and South DVD . BBC DVD, 2005.
  3. ↑ a b c d " BBC - Drama - Backstage - Soundtrack and Location information ( Memento from June 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive )". Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  4. ↑ a b c " North and South Locations ". Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  5. ↑ Shannon, Sarah: " Love in a cold climate ". The Independent . Published November 10, 2004, Accessed April 4, 2008
  6. ↑ literally quoted: An intelligent, moving, thought provoking and visually striking adaptation.
  7. ↑ This is Pride and Prejudice with a social conscience, a collision between Northern no-nonsense and delicate Southern sensibilities.
  8. ^ Sturges, Fiona: " STAYING IN: Class and costumes collide ". The Independent . Published November 13, 2004, Accessed April 4, 2008
  9. ↑ … North and South is an elaborate production buoyed by a strong cast… In many respects, this is a very modern story concerning down-shifting and the clash of class and culture, and offers a compelling view of the north-south divide. Perhaps more disturbingly, it's a drama that leaves you wondering how much has really changed.
  10. ↑ The Hollywood Reporter: North and South.Published June 30, 2005, Accessed April 3, 2008
  11. ↑ Period drama simply doesn't come much more exquisite than this British-produced, "Pride and Prejudice" -esque period piece that's packed with passion, tension, class warfare and smoldering sexual energy. ... Bottom line: A beautifully produced historical mini that fairly bursts at the seams with quality.
  12. ↑ Movieman.de: DVD review "North & South"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Published September 5, 2006, Accessed April 3, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.movieman.de  
  13. ↑ BBC Drama - Winner 2004 ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved June 6, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bbc.co.uk

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