Masterpiece Classic: Any Human Heart [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

As every review on Amazon for the PBS Masterpiece Classic presentation of "Any Human Heart" wants to challenge the editing of the film--I feel compelled to leap into the fray with the definitive answer. There is no denying that the show was broadcast for American audiences to fit the current format and timeslot of the network which resulted in unfortunate editing. However, what that has to do with the DVD release is absolutely nothing. Condemn PBS Broadcasting, if you must, for the televised end product--but any amount of investigation will confirm that the DVD offered for sale is absolutely intact with the full United Kingdom version. First, all you have to do is click on the DVD image above to read the bold print "Original UK Edition" and I have further confirmed the details through the PBS website. So, by all means, can we please just judge the full program and refrain from insinuating that this is a nefariously tampered with version?

Complete DVD specs:

Disc#1 - Episode 1 (RT: 1:17), and Episode (RT: 1:06)
Disc#2 - Episode 3 (RT: 1:10), and Episode 4 (RT: 1:07)

Bonus Content (approximately 48 minutes) includes)
(Interviews with actors, producers, directors, writer - all subtitled)
- In Oxford with Sam Clafin
- Matthew MacFayden on location in Spain
- Interview with Jim Broadbent
- Kim Cattral on "Gloria"
- Gillian Anderson and Tom Hollander on playing the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
- Hayley Atwell on "Freya"
- On the Set of "Any Human Heart"
- From Paper to Screen - William Boyd Discusses "Any Human Heart"
- Deleted Scenes (about 7 minutes of 11 clips - not subtitled)

This DVD is the original and unedited UK version

The following program contains mature content. Viewer discretion is advised.

This DVD features subtitles in English (SDH)

Masterpiece Classic has certainly been serving up some sophisticated entertainment of late. This production headlined by an impressive international cast including Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Tom Hollander, Kim Cattrall, Richard Schiff and Hayley Atwell seems, on the surface, to be one of its most promising entries. Following the recollections of author Logan Mountstuart as he tries to assimilate the pieces of his life, this biographical journey traverses approximately six decades with four actors of varying range portraying the novelist. It's an exciting idea and a fascinating trip with tales of success, stories of romance, bits of intrigue, and moments of struggle. This sometimes melancholy look at the vignettes that make up a life story is held together by Broadbent (as the eldest Mountstuart) while sorting through the memorabilia of the passing years.

While a child Mountstuart is featured in fantasy sequences, the tale really begins with the college aged version (Sam Claflin). Claflin is an appealing and engaging actor, and the youthful Mountstuart is depicted with energy and much humor. The bulk of the story is handled by the middle aged Mountstuart (MacFadyen)--this includes two marriages, infidelity, children, a foray into espionage, literary success, and waning literary success. And the late-in-life Mountstuart (Broadbent) is left to adapt to the ever changing world. MacFadyen, as I mentioned, carries much of the narrative and Mountstuart rubs elbows with everyone from Hemingway to Ian Fleming to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (terrifically played by Hollander and Anderson). The film veers from slapstick to maudlin with little warning and its tone tends to be all over the place!

In truth, I didn't love "Any Human Heart" in the way I expected. I admired its effort, production values, and performances--but the film lacks a bit of heart. Mountstuart is never a particularly likable creation and, at various stages, he is displayed with a chilly emotional detachment. He all but abandons his first wife and child to start a family he dotes on--and never once does the screenplay challenge him to feel regret. Through infidelities, deception, and selfishness, the film never confronts the darker aspects of its own storytelling. I didn't mind the negative qualities that made Mountstuart whole--I just never felt there was a desire to portray him in totality. We're meant to like him at any cost. The end result was that I felt like I never got to know him very well--and since I spent a lifetime with him, that was a bit of an issue for me. Definitely recommended but it is one Masterpiece Classic I probably won't choose to revisit with frequency. KGHarris, 3/11.

Ginia Bellafante wrote in the New York Times on February 11, 2011 that "Any Human Heart" is a "Forrest Gump" for the literate. She also wrote that the beauty of the story is that "embitterment never sees its own victories. Failure, too, has its pleasure." A fun comparison yet fine words to describe the "heart" of one Logan Mountstuart, a fictional character, whose life in the 20th century is chronicled from his Oxford days in the 1920's to a mere existence in the 1990's.

William Boyd, who wrote the novel and the screenplay for this spectacular PBS production, asks and answers this question: How did a boy adrift on a placid river in Uruguay become a grizzled old man sorting through piles of boxes and books in an old country house in France? It's a fascinating ride!

Sit back and enjoy the clever dialogue, the sets and the photography, the fine performances of Jim Broadbent and Matthew Macfadyen as Mountstuart.

Try to keep up with the wives and lovers. The casting is superb. Don't overlook the first wife, Lady Lottie Cassell, who gives Logan his love of the aristocratic life and a son. Hayley Atwell plays Freya, the much loved and beautiful second wife. Kim Cattrall (the sexy vamp from Sex and the City) plays Gloria, a redhaired lover and the third wife of Logan's Oxford buddy. And even after World War II, when Logan leaves a destitute life in London of eating cans of dog food and beans and moves to France, he charms a young neighborhood beauty who has a glorified memory of her father during the war. (The scenes of an older Mountstuart in military camoflage watching over her father's memorial plaque are hilarious.)

Enjoy the real-life 20th century figures who flit in and out of Logan's life. It does not go without saying...as the NYT reviewer suggests...that Logan with his minor literary fame meets Hemingway in Paris. There are multiple scenes with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Wallis Simpson is portrayed by Gillian Anderson (formerly of X-file fame) in glorious witchy mood---she even hisses! Ian Fleming becomes a suave friend who asks Logan to persuade the Windsor's to move to Bermuda for national security reasons and encourages Logan to join the Royal Navy.

What was so stunning midst Logan's trials and tribulations is the sad fact that he survives a son, a daughter, a wife and two very good friends from his Oxford days. Although he steals Peter's Oxford girlfriend and seduces his third wife, there's a great deal of admiration there: Peter is a best-selling author of mystery novels. And to Ben, the other friend, he gives five Joan Miro paintings smuggled out of Spain to start a successful gallery. And the tender scenes are tender indeed, when he takes in Gloria who is still beautiful but dying of pancreatic cancer. Their scenes eating pate and drinking wine on a disheveled bed are joyously poignant.

This is not a tale to remind us "that success is so often bestowed on those whose personal conduct would seem to warrant it least..." nor is it a tale of an embittered old man. It's just an entertaining story of one man's journey through the 20th century.

Enjoy! I did.

I'm a big fan of Masterpiece Classic and I wasn't disappointed with "Any Human Heart." It's a story that takes the viewer along the different stages of Logan Mountstuart's life. Mountstuart is a writer with reasonable success until his life was devastated by the loss of his family during WWII. As Mountstuart ages, his life is marked by his association with different women who imparted certain truths that stayed with him. He only realizes this near the end of his life as he was sorting through his personal effects.

What I like about the story is the idea that any person has a story to tell, loves that were lost, dreams that were extinguished. I suppose that is why the book starts with a quote from Henry James "Never say you know the last word about any human heart."

The film is beautifully done and I'm impressed with the work that was put into the sets and clothes of the different time periods. It was also enjoyable to see Mountstuart's encounters with real people like Ernest Hemingway and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (exceptional performance by Gillian Anderson). Matthew MacFadyen did an excellent job. His part was the most difficult stage of Mountstuart's life. The film also has a surreal quality to it, especially when it shows Mountstuart's recurring dream of being a child on a boat and being watched by his different selves at different ages. It was captivating and I watched the whole film through.