The Making of A Lady

Even though it wasn't like the book, it was quite entertaining.

Mildly entertaining - if only to wonder how the ridiculous situation would resolve itself.

Well, it's not really about the making of a lady, unless the training for becoming a lady includes active combat with psychopaths. Actually, the maid saves the day here. Mid-level British period thriller.

Quite enjoyable, but how come last 30 minutes turned to a cheap B-thriller?

This movie couldn’t be farther from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book The making of a Marchioness (followed by The Methods of Lady Walderhurst). To say it was based upon Mrs. Burnett’s book is a joke. The main character of the movie is diametrically opposite to the book’s. The original Emily Fox-Seton is a happy, positive woman who is content with her life; she is also 34 years old. Emily deeply enjoys the little things in life and believes everyone is "so" good to her. She makes the best of the smallest of things and always has a smile and a cheery word. Compare that to the gloomy aura the Emily of the movie perspires. Miss Lydia Wilson couldn’t be farther from the very tall and straight-backed Emily Fox-Seton—a posture that brings an admiring comment from the lips of ever so quiet Lord Walderhurst. The story also has been so much bent and changed as to become unrecognizable. Waldenhurst was a very imposing man, a bit fleshy, but very healthy and of few words who wore a monocle; nothing to do with the actor in this movie. Also Hester Gordon was an English girl raised in India, not an Indian. And Tom Hardy would have been a better choice as Major Alec Goron, a sportsman who enjoys the outdoors. I don’t know why people make movies “based” upon books just to remove everything from the original story. Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote a great book; the maker of the movie deconstructed it into a gloomy Gothic Victorian tale. Read the book instead.

Rated 7/10.

Some parts were predictable but kept me going till the end.

Fairly formulaic Gothic story set in 19th century England which is saved by good acting playing against a weak script. Impoverished but genteel young woman meets and marries a wealthy, kind, but clueless older man who immediately dashes off to India leaving his new wife in peril in a spooky mansion on a countryside estate. Menacing servants, a deranged and jealous brother-in-law, a priest's hole for spying all add up to a 96 minute scarefest romp. It had its moments though, and even though the end was entirely predictable from the beginning I rather enjoyed it.

This is an excellent show. The story is actually very interesting, but it's also very terrifying and disturbing. Although the story is somewhat predictable, the actors are wonderful. Lydia Wilson and Linus Roache have wonderful, if somewhat awkward (which is appropriate for the movie) chemistry. They're very natural together. The pace is also excellent. I don't know why this got pretty weak reviews when it was on earlier this year, because the story is unusual and interesting. I was sitting on the edge of my seat with this movie. I'm now interested in reading the books by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Highly recommended.