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Capturing Mary (including A Real Summer) (BBC) [DVD]
 
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Capturing Mary (including A Real Summer) (BBC) [DVD]

DVD ~ Danny Lee Wynter
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
Price: £11.47 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Capturing Mary (including A Real Summer) (BBC) [DVD] + Joe's Palace (BBC) [DVD] + Gideon's Daughter [DVD]
Total RRP: £51.97
Price For All Three: £32.23

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  • This item: Capturing Mary (including A Real Summer) (BBC) [DVD] DVD ~ Danny Lee Wynter

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Joe's Palace (BBC) [DVD] DVD ~ Danny Lee Wynter

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Gideon's Daughter [DVD] DVD ~ Bill Nighy

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Capturing Mary (including A Real Summer) (BBC) [DVD]
67% buy the item featured on this page:
Capturing Mary (including A Real Summer) (BBC) [DVD] 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
£11.47
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Product details

  • Actors: Danny Lee Wynter, Maggie Smith, David Walliams, Ruth Wilson
  • Directors: Stephen Poliakoff
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: 2 Entertain Video
  • DVD Release Date: 12 Nov 2007
  • Run Time: 100 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000VA3J8Y
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,082 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

DVD Description

This DVD includes both Poliakoff's A Real Summer (the one-off monologue prequel to Capturing Mary and Capturing Mary, the companion film to Joe's Palace.

Joe’s Palace, A Real Summer and Capturing Mary are three linked dramas by Poliakoff that centre on a large Georgian house in London. Sumptuous pieces, beautifully shot to feature-film standards for the BBC. A Real Summer, (commissioned by BBC Two’s Culture Show), is a 45-minute bridging piece, a monologue for the actress Ruth Wilson who, as Mary, stars again in Capturing Mary.

Capturing Mary stars Maggie Smith, David Walliams, Ruth Wilson and Danny Lee Wynter. Like Joe's Palace it is set in the same exquisite empty house, and takes the young caretaker, Joe, and new characters into a dark and terrifying exploration of the past and how it can quite literally capture and destroy a person's life. It focuses on a formerly very successful woman, Mary (Maggie Smith in a rare television appearance), a once-brilliant writer and critic, reflecting on her younger self (Ruth Wilson). As she looks back on her prime, remembering parties and functions with the cultural elite played out as echoes and shadows in the empty palazzo, Mary is haunted by the memory of a supremely charming but subtly evil man, Greville (David Walliams), who feigned friendship, but actually brought destruction.



Synopsis

In this spin-off from another popular Stephen Poliakoff drama, Joe's Palace, Dame Maggie Smith stars as Mary, a once-great writer who reminisces over her elite social life and the man—Greville (David Walliams)—who left a devastating impression on it.

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3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Dame Maggie Smith - a superb performance in a deep drama, 4 Dec 2007
By Klaus van Amelrode "kmcva" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Maggie Smith always has been one of my favourite actresses as she can really act. In Stephen Poliakoff's moving drama she slips into the role of Mary and her failed life which seems to have got off balance by one single encounter with Greville, ending in loneliness - again a Poliakoff theme - and alcohol abuse, but she retains a certain dignity. This one encounter captures Mary for life, enslaves her for life. It is pretty difficult to figure out what really happened to her or whether she just blamed Greville for her ultimately failed life. Maggie Smith's performance is just superb. One can understand why she accepted his role as it gives her a rare opportunity in the TV screen to show that she really is one of Britain and the world's finest actresses. The whole drama is deeply psychological, moving, as usual a bit confusing and in the end utterly fascinating. "Little Britain" star David Walliams portraits Greville in a great performance. I was quite surprised that he is not just a comedy star but a very good actor. All in all a great drama which I greatly enjoyed
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning drama, 13 Nov 2007
By falkenna (Brighton, UK) - See all my reviews
"Subtly evil"? "Feigning friendship"? Well, probably, but it's not that simple. This is complex, subtle drama with real psychological depth and dimension, as well as enigma and mystery (yes, both) that don't leave you feeling cheated by lack of answers.
A story so dependent on charisma and obsession should be difficult to write and film convincingly, but "Capturing Mary" succeeds in spades. A key element is, of course, the actors, and Ruth Wilson and David Walliams are both astonishing. The creepy power of Walliams is reminiscent of James Mason.
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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, 15 Sep 2008
By Graham James "graydjames" (Leicester UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
All the intellectual discourse in the world cannot disguise that these films were deeply disappointing. I am a huge Poliakoff fan and have viewed all his screen works that I am aware of starting with Caught on a Train. This film adopts the familiar surreal and highly atmospheric scenes with the most beautiful direction and cinematography. As usual, acting of the absolutely highest quality adds to the excellence. Sadly, however, to be truly brilliant, as most of Poliakoff's works are, there needs to be a good yarn. A story than draws in the viewer and keeps their attention. For me Capturing Mary failed to do this.

Having not previously seen Ruth Wilson, I was unclear whether her accent and diction was deliberately affected or her natural speaking voice. In parts I actually found I had difficulty in hearing her lines clearly. This was so great an issue for me in A Real Summer that I actually gave up on it.

Compared to earlier works, particularly the apex of Shooting the Past, Perfect Strangers, The Lost Prince and even the "sister" production of Joe's Palace, this was, for me at least, a massive disappointment.
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