即使谷里曾经扫过盲,头二十分钟我还是被蜂拥登场的才子才女们及他们的关系搞糊涂了。不过几个重点编剧导演表达得很清楚:这群年轻人对二十世纪初的道德禁锢极其反叛,他们的波希米亚生活方式也许有矫枉过正的因素。Venessa与Virginia尤其反对社会对女性的限制,所以起初极力抗拒婚姻,一心追求自由与艺术。但Venessa的女性母性本能很快被唤醒,与Clive Bell结婚生子。儿子出生后她的注意力全部转移到孩子上,给了丈夫与Virginia产生暧昧、并与他人出轨的借口。两人协议继续开放型的婚姻。Vanessa对Duncan Grant的感情苗头已见端倪,但Roger Fry是否已经出镜我没看明白。由此Venessa的感情历程还是很可以解释的,并不似整个圈子给人的混乱印象。
Duncan Grant的戏份超出Virginia。他的感情线比Venessa复杂得多,一下子就爱上了谁,一下子又见异思迁。而几乎所有人都爱Duncan,在我看来这名演员的魅力还未达到万人迷的程度。因与Grant有联系,第一集里着墨不少的还有Lytton Strachey和Maynard Keynes。
Venessa孙女Virginia Nicholson写的观后感说,尽管剧本几乎完全忽略了Bloomsbury团体的学术成就和历史地位而偏重于感情纠葛,且历史细节也有失真之处,总的来说她比较赞许对Venessa的描述:the story of a women who burnt with impulsive passions, who yearned to make art, who lived for her children, and for a man who could never give her what she craved.... Venessa's life unfolds on screen, and her ardour, ideals and dream of bohemian honesty are trampled underfoot by confusion, hurt and tragedy... 她还写道祖父Clive Bells对孩子没什么耐心比较疏远,但Duncan Grant可亲得多。
剧照:Vanessa Bell与Duncan Grant

Maynard Keynes (Edmund Kingsley), Lytton Strachey (Ed Birch), Vanessa Bell (Phoebe Fox), Duncan Grant (James Norton), Virginia Woolf (Lydia Leonard), David ‘Bunny’ Garnett (Ben Lloyd Hughes), Leonard Woolf (Al Weaver), Supporting Artist, Clive Bell (Sam Hoare)
