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By
MELINA GEORGIS
It's hardly an accident that Andrew Davies adapted William Thackeray's classic satire for TV in
1998. Davies was also the one who adapted Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma" for TV. "Pride and Prejudice"
remains the ultimate Austen adaptation -- along with the superb adaptation of "Persuasion" by Nick Dear. And Davies'
"Emma" remains far superior to the far more glittering Gwyneth Paltrow film adaptation.
The odd thing here is that Thackeray's style is bawdy and cynical and very different to Austen's gentler, more romantic
approach to satire. But Davies is definitely versatile. And director Marc Munden deserves praise too. Equal parts
heartbreak and comedy, this miniseries of "Vanity Fair" catches Thackeray's bipolar mood: The novel's sardonic narrator
is replaced by elements such as jazzy, irregular bandstand music, a recurrent snorting pig outside Queen's Crawley, a
beggar playing "Rule Britannia" with tiny bells while the British army marches toward Waterloo.
The contrast between clever but poor Becky Sharp ( the gorgeous Natasha Little) and her childhood friend Amelia Sedley
(Frances Grey) drives the story. Amelia initially enjoys privileges Becky lacks, and she grows to be innocent, trusting
and rather naive -- and in some things infuriatingly thick. But material blessings and position are temporary things.
The production values are lavish in this A&E and BBC co-production, and the casting just about perfect. It may be true
that "Vanity Fair" is a story without a hero, but Little's performance as Becky dominates. I found myself wondering
throughout whether Becky is merely a scheming, sexy sociopath or a proto-feminist. She remains thoroughly committed to
earning a place in society, she can be ruthless, she's an indifferent mother, and perhaps she never cared for her
husband. But not until the very end, literally the last 10 minutes, will you get any sort of insight as to whether she
does have any feelings of empathy.
There are no extras, but "Vanity Fair" on DVD is a must for any collector of exceptional literary adaptations.
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