mbuchwald

I just rented the original version of Love in Cold Climate on DVD. Having never seen the broadcast, I was a bit taken aback at first because it clearly belies its age (1980), but after I got into the second episode I was hooked. All commentators who have bemoaned its absence should run to their favourite source and get the DVD. The DVD is well made and has subtitles for those of us who are hard of hearing or have trouble with the accents. It was interesting to see the younger Judi Dench and a set of excellent actors that have not had immense careers afterwards. Seeing the DVD has made me want to go and read the books on which the series was based just as seeing Brideshead Revisited (to me still the best book adaptation that I have seen on TV) sent me to read the novel.

I just saw this outstanding film at the World Film Festival in Montreal. It received a well-deserved, spontaneous applause from the audience. I saw 10 films at the festival, from all over the world, and this one was the highlight.The script is not obvious, and takes its time developing the story, of the renewed, but only temporary, friendship between two elderly women who meet again by accident. The characters and the joint history of the main protagonists are revealed in part through flashbacks. By the end of the film one really knows and loves them. Secondary characters are vivid and true to life. The ending is totally appropriate for the way the story has been going and leaves one with mixed feelings.

I also don't understand the negative comments about this show, for example the fact that drugs and alcohol are present. This is what makes the show realistic (except perhaps for a subsection of the population who don't accept that alcohol and drugs are part of North American society). The characters are believable and sometimes quite funny. Some of the episodes, for example the one in which Tara's sister undergoes a second breast operation, push American obsession with perfect beauty to the limit. As others have said, Collette is outstanding as Tara but the other actors more than hold their own next to her various roles. This is a very idiosyncratic take on contemporary society.