Granger At The Movies: Bridgerton, Two More

Bridgerton

While Netflix’s sprawling “Bridgerton” mini-series may seem like “Gossip Girl”-meets-“Downton Abbey,” it’s unique in reimagining 19th century Britain with aristocratic families seeking favor from Black royalty.

“We were two separate societies, divided by color, until King George III fell in love with one of us,” Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) explains to her brooding protégé, Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings (Rege-Jean Page). “Look at everything it’s doing for us, allowing us to become. Love, your Grace, conquers all.”

Based on the first of Julia Quinn’s bodice-ripping, romance novels, the inaugural season, set in 1813, revolves around naive Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), embarking as a London debutante in the competitive marriage market.

Dubbed “flawless” by crafty Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), Daphne piques the interest of several suitors, all of whom are rejected as “unworthy” by her older brother Viscount Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), titular head of Bridgerton family after his father’s death.

Perhaps he’s just bitter because his not-so-secretive romance with ‘lowly’ opera singer Siena Rosso (Sabrina Bartlett) is derided and perhaps doomed. (FYI: soprano Sabrina does her own vocalizing.)

Meanwhile, the not-so-prosperous Featherington family is also in an uproar. A distant cousin, Marina Thompson (Ruby Berker), arrives; she’s pregnant and the father is fighting in Spain. Can the Featheringtons marry her off before scandal erupts?

While Daphne’s successful entrance to London society is duly noted by anonymous gossip columnist Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews), the eligible Duke of Hastings is being also being pressured to find a wife. After vowing never to wed, will he court Daphne? Or will she fall for a Prussian Prince (Freddie Stroma)?

Plus, will curious Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and inquisitive Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) discover the identity of mysterious Lady Whistledown? ‘Tis a compelling puzzlement.

Produced by Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal”), it’s fun, frothy escapism. According to showrunner Chris Van Dusen, regarding that era’s excess, beauty and decadence: “It was over-the-top: the costumes, the jewels, the glittering ballrooms, the country homes.”

Some Kind of Heaven

Making “Some Kind of Heaven,” first-time documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim travels along the pristine, palm-tree-lined streets of The Villages in central Florida, America’s largest retirement community (approx. 180,000), often promoted as “Disneyland for Seniors.”

Founded by Michigan businessman Harold Schwartz in the mid-80s, his utopian vision was “to create a warm, beautiful, secure and friendly community where all your retirement dreams come true.”

“Coming here is like going off to college,” one resident says. “You get to be who you really are.”

That’s probably true IF you’re healthy and have a good relationship with a partner to share your customized golf cart, along with enough money to spend.

Problem is: everyone doesn’t — and Oppenheim, along with cinematographer David Bolen, peeks behind the facade of several of those whose lives are far from idyllic.

Anne and Reggie Kincer have been married for 47 years, and Anne’s having trouble coping with Reggie’s deteriorating grip on reality, increasing dementia and dependency on drugs. He’s currently awaiting his day in court on cocaine-possession charges.

Barbara Lochiatto is a widow, working full-time as a rehab center administrator. She moved to The Villages from Boston with her husband, who subsequently died. Now, she is desperately lonely, confessing: “It’s not the fantasyland I thought it would be.”

And peripatetic Dennis Dean is an 82 year-old bachelor, living out of a van, hustling wealthy woman for a place to stay — hopefully with someone who won’t mind that he’s fleeing a DUI arrest warrant in California.

What’s glossed over/never mentioned is that billboards along I-75 tout the good times/good life there, amid myriad golf courses, swimming pools, and shopping centers but neglect to allude to the STD rate, one of the highest in the country.

FYI: The Villages’ demographics work out to 98.3% Caucasian, 0.8% Asian, 0.3% African-American, 0.1% Native American and 1.8% Hispanics/Latinos/Pacific Islanders.

Pieces of a Woman

As “Pieces of a Woman” begins, pregnant Martha (Vanessa Kirby) is feted at an office baby shower, while her husband Sean (Shia LaBeouf), a construction engineer on a Charles River bridge project in Boston, is so eager to become a father that he frames the ultrasound photographs of their daughter to hang in the nursery.

Preparing for a home birth, they call the midwife when Martha’s contractions are six minutes apart. But the midwife is delayed; Eva (Molly Parker), a substitute, takes her place. The birth is depicted over a period of 25 tense, agonizing minutes.

Although the baby appears healthy at first, she suddenly ‘turns blue’ and paramedics arrive too late to save her. Subsequent findings by the medical examiner are inconclusive as to cause of death.

While brutish Sean, who has a history of addiction, is openly distraught, grieving Martha becomes coldly clinical, deciding to donate the infant’s body to medical research. That horrifies her controlling mother, Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn), who is determined to sue Eva, enlisting the aid of an attorney/cousin (Sarah Snook), who is confident they can win criminal and civil manslaughter cases against the midwife.

Scripted in several distinct sections by Kata Weber from her own semi-autobiographical experience and helmed by her husband, Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo (“White Dog”), making his English-language debut, it unfolds on random days over a period of eight months.

Although she has never been pregnant, Vanessa Kirby observed several women in labor which, obviously, contributes to her animalistic authenticity. An experienced stage/TV actress (young Princess Margaret in “The Crown” and opposite Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible: Fallout”), this is Kirby’s first leading role in a feature film.

For families that have experienced losing a child, this film could touch an emotionally wrenching trigger, particularly coupled with gratuitous nudity, an extramarital affair and a graphic near-rape scene.

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.

As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.

During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie and drama critic, syndicating her reviews and articles around the world, including Video Librarian. She has appeared on American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies. In 2017, her book 150 Timeless Movies was published by Hannacroix Creek Books.

Her website is www.susangranger.com. Follow her on Twitter @susangranger.