Rent A Dance to the Music of Time (1997)

3.8 of 5 from 76 ratings
6h 53min
Rent A Dance to the Music of Time Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Nick Jenkins is one of a group of young men who have been raised to think they are destined to rule the world, when in fact the world may turn out to belong to someone called Widmerpool. A Dance to the Music of Time is a wryly comic portrait of upper-class and bohemian England spanning almost a century, from the early 20s to modern times. Friendship, adultery, ambition and failure are set against the backdrop of London's social, political and artistic life. Foolish love, broken dreams, marriages of convenience, affairs of the heart, knives in the back. This drama of life, like life itself, is rich in unexpected twists and turns.
Actors:
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Directors:
,
Studio:
Acorn Media
Genres:
British TV, TV Dramas
Collections:
Top 10 Films and Shows About British Princes, Top Films
BBFC:
Release Date:
19/06/2010
Run Time:
413 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • Anthony Powell biography
  • Cast filmographies
Disc 1:
This disc includes episodes 1-2
Disc 2:
This disc includes episodes 3-4

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Reviews (1) of A Dance to the Music of Time

Gets four stars for endeavour as much as quality - A Dance to the Music of Time review by SB

Spoiler Alert
23/08/2023

This Channel 4 drama is in four episodes of about 1hr 40 mins each, and covers a decades-long time-span from the 1920s onwards. This means that the onward momentum is maintained but inevitably some of the rich texture of the twelve novels by Anotony Powell is lost. Period settings in Oxford, London and the country are well evoked.

Performances are mostly good, although some are little more than cameos (John Gielgud, Frank Middlemass for example). Because of the vast numbers on view, the device of the narrator (James Purefoy in the first three episodes) is probably necessary if we are to keep our bearings. The quivering heart of the series is Simon Rusell Beale's superb Widmerpool, whether he is a pompous ass at school, slithering through a party as he ascends the social ladder, involved in murky spy stuff or denouncing 'the system' as a slightly mad university chancellor. Around him people come and go, and the death rate in the last two episodes is very high. The other standout is Miranda Richardson's Pamela Flitton, a true 'belle dame sans merci' who eats men for breakfast. It is not clear why John Standing replaced Purefoy as narrator in the last episode; he is far too old at the start of it compared with the rest of the cast. However, Joanna David as his 'new' wife is an upgrade on the previous somewhat bland model.

Given that it is so lengthy and has so many characters you need to be prepared to sit down and concentrate, but if you do, then the rewards are considerable – though slightly depressing, to think that such a shower were (and in many respects still are) running the country. Anthony Powell's memoirs are themselves quite interesting in that regard as well.

1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.

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