We have all pretended that we are just about to start Leo Tolstoy's epic war romance tome set in 19th century Russia. We have had this in our to read lists more years than it took Tolstoy to write this.
Maybe that is an exaggeration.
Anyhow. I decided to watch this series, and not other adaptations because of two main reasons: 1) I knew I was kidding myself and there was no earthly reason I was going to read this book despite being a huge book lover, 2) this was a modern adaptation with a few familiar names and I have a soft spot for BBC miniseries.
It turned out to be a good decision.
I enjoyed this miniseries immensely. It was gorgeous to look at with some grade A cast. There are a lot of major characters and I assume there are even more in the book, but the series does a valiant job of combining the threads and making them plausible. I was not lost or confused for one single moment. As a matter of fact I immediately had a sense of where the major action was taking place and who the big players were. There are issues with pacing but overall it moves at a brisk pace because there is a lot of ground to cover. There are many plots and subplots to keep you engaged and your attention to not dither.
There are some obvious standouts like Lily James as the protagonist Natasha, entangled in a love triangle that comes close to being a quadrilateral at one point. James Norton and Paul Dano as Andrei and Pierre are just too good and there are two scenes with them that are filled with tremendous dialogues. Tom Burke steals the show in several scenes he is in. The war scenes are terrifically shot and you get a sense of horrors and ravage that warfare causes.
There is a bit of everything in this: love stories and romance, marital politics and intrigue, infidelity, war, peace, war again, balls and high society functions. This is a well made miniseries which, for me, served as a substitute for the book I will always say I am going to read but never will. Thank you, BBC!