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List Price: $39.99Amazon.com's Price: $34.99 You Save: $5.00 (13%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0054961825394
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Label: Acorn Media
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Acorn Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 30, 2006
Running Time: 219 minutes
Sales Rank: 40910
Studio: Acorn Media
Theatrical Release Date: July 19, 1992
Editorial Review:
Description:
From the BBC, Janet McTeer stars as Vita Sackville-West in the classic Masterpiece Theatre drama
British aristocrat and writer Vita Sackville-West and diplomat Harold Nicolson married in 1913, and their love endured and deepened over the course of their 50 years together. Each, however, was knowingly and repeatedly unfaithful to the other, Vita most famously with fellow writer Virginia Woolf. But only one affair threatened their union: Vita’s tempestuous liaison with her childhood friend Violet Keppel. This BBC drama is the story of that affair based on the extraordinary literary biography by Nigel Nicolson, Vita and Harold’s son.
Award-winning actress Janet McTeer (Tumbleweeds, Carrington) stars as Vita with David Haig (Two Weeks Notice) as Harold, and Cathryn Harrison (Clarissa) as Violet.
Amazon.com:
Portrait of a Marriage opens with deceptive calm-- a husband and wife working in a garden look up at planes flying overhead. But the planes are off to bomb Germany and moments later a phone call thrusts the wife--poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West (Janet McTeer, Tumbleweeds)--into a bittersweet reverie from the previous war. Five years into her marriage with Harold Nicolson (David Haig, Two Weeks Notice), Harold confesses his affairs with men--but swears his only true passion is Vita. She accepts this, but when her childhood friend Violet Keppel (Cathryn Harrison, Clarissa) arrives, the two women begin an affair. Soon Vita and Violet find themselves deeply enmeshed, traveling through the gay demimonde of Paris with Vita in men's clothes. The affair becomes all-consuming and starts tearing at Vita and Harold's marriage and the lives of their two children. Portrait of a Marriage practically bursts with revealing psychological details and startlingly steamy sex scenes--as Vita and Violet's relationship grows more carnal, so does the miniseries. But there's nothing casual or exploitive about it; the sex deepens the hold the women have on each other's hearts and leads to emotional pyrotechnics. The tension constantly thickens, made all the more complex because Vita and Harold genuinely love each other, regardless of their sexual longings. The vivid and meticulous recreation of the period frames the superb performances by McTeer, Harrison, and Haig. This four-episode miniseries from 1990, based on the biography by Vita and Harold's son Nigel, is yet another example of the BBC's mastery of literary adaptations. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Powerful Passions
I remember seeing this series when it first came out in England many years ago. I recently bought the DVD's issued here in the US. Seeing it again, so many years later, did not diminish the effect it had on me. I was quite surprised by this and I think that fact alone says something about the quality of this production. It is really an examination of the conflict between stable family life and the wild passions of youth. Many people might contemplate the kind of marriage/relationship that Vita ... Read More
Rating: - frankly speaking
I thoroughly enjoy this movie. In the same genre as "Maurice", "Wilde", and "Tipping the Velvet", this timeless classic is truly rivoting and heartwretching to watch. The age of innocence was a period many seek to keep prime and proper, full of myths on social morality, when in fact, most educated, well travelled and sophisticated people (especially in the Arts)knew that this so-called benign period was the beginning of greater freedom of expression if one only dared challenged societal myths. This ... Read More
Rating: - PBS Series, Great Drama
If you enjoy period dramas or bios, check this one out..also a true story written by the couple's son, Nigel
Rating: - VIOLET AND VITA AND HAROLD AND DENYS
This is a superb BBC production. High production values. It's a TV luxury. Based on Vita's memoire of her love affair with Violet Keppel Trefusis which can be found in Nigel Nicolson's 'Portrait of a Marriage' as well as Violet's letters and Vita's biography, it is intelligently scripted by Penelope Mortimer and acted excellently by a high calibre cast. The drama is gut wrenchingly effective in parts. There is a violent scene between Vita and Violet that made me want to jump into the TV and put an end ... Read More
Rating: - Portrait of a Marriage
First saw this on Masterpiece Theater with Alistair Cooke. Excellent autobiography and story of a gay woman poet/writer, Vita Sackville-West, living in the WWI era 1920's and 30's, gay life in Paris! What you did in those days was marry and hide your homosexuality and lesbianism. Sackville-West and her diplomat homosexual husband do just that. But, as women, sex does not come without love as emotions, passions, and trust broil to a fantastic climax. Most intriguing!! Personnel favorite of all time.
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