WOMAN, EDGE
Wilkie Collins’ 1859 tale gets solid remake on PBS
Insanity, stolen identity and grave betrayals are at the heart of “The Woman in White,” a five-part adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ 1859 novel of the same name beginning tonight on PBS. There have been many other adaptations of this story before, notably a 1997 production that starred a young Andrew Lincoln before he took up the fight against zombies, but this one, courtesy of writer Fiona Seres and the BBC, takes care to give its unconventional heroine her due. After one drunken night out, struggling London artist Walter Hartright (Ben Hardy, “X-Men: Apocalypse”) is accosted by the female of the title, a frightened woman who reveals she has escaped from an asylum. Her ramblings make little sense, and when Walter offers to help her, she runs away into the night. Walter’s good friend professor Pesca (Ivan Kaye, “Vikings”) recommends him for a job sorting out the art collection of a wealthy recluse, Frederick Fairlie (Charles Dance, “Game of Thrones”). While he’s there, he’s also to tutor Fairlie’s two nieces, Laura (Olivia Vinall) and Marian (Jessie Buckley). At the estate, Walter discovers the women, half-sisters, are about as different as two people can be. Marian is bold, adventurous and speaks her mind. Laura is shy, demure and considered the beauty of the family. She’s also heir to a sizable fortune. Despite their differences, Marian and Laura are devoted to each other. Walter becomes smitten with Laura, but, alas, she is promised to Sir Percival Glyde (Dougray Scott, “Snatch”), her father’s deathbed wish. After a two-year engagement, Percival is eager for a bride — and her money. Amid all this intrigue, the Woman in White appears again, and the search for answers surrounding her identity changes the lives of everyone involved. The performances are solid and ingratiating. Dance steals every scene he’s in as a cranky hypochondriac who is bothered by everything. (You expect him to complain the air he breathes stings his lungs.) As one — but not the only — villain of the story, Scott says all the right things and yet leaves no doubt his Percival is as conniving as any rogue. “The least you can offer is the most I can hope for from any other woman in the world,” he assures Laura and the dread in that moment is palpable. Buckley suggests a young Katharine Hepburn in her heroine, a woman determined to protect her sister at the risk of her own life. “How is it men time and time again crush women and go unpun- ished? If men were held accountable, they’d hang every hour of the day, every day of the year,” Marian rails in one beautiful outburst of righteous indignation. The miniseries’ resolution is particularly satisfying and even surprising for a story that originated in the 19th century. In Seres’ confident telling, “The Woman in White” is as relevant as the Time’s Up movement.