The Forsythe Saga

Every once in a while I watch a movie that, for lack of a better term, knocks my socks off.  Sometimes it is not so much the plot line, but a particular actor (usually a villain) who so consumes the part that he or she becomes that person.

It happened to me while I watched Christoph Waltz become the Nazi officer in Inglorious Bastards, and again recently watching Damian Lewis as Soames in The Forsythe Saga.  We do not like these men, they are cruel, heartless, unloveable. A good psychiatrist could explain their motivation, the reasons why their behavior is so abhorrent. Their childhood was harsh, never shown love, they became unlovable, society gave them a raw deal, they were born at the wrong time, they were born at the right time but the wrong side of the law.  Whatever the case may be, we do not like them.

It is for all these reasons that I became captivated by Soames in The Forsythe Saga.  Life should have unfolded seamlessly for Soames. Born into a good family, Oxford educated, he became a lawyer. Governed  by contracts, he saw the world in black and white but there was one big problem - his wife Irene hated him.  It is hard for us to understand the dictates of society in the late 1800's, but in this world both Irene and Soames found themselves lost in a no win situation in which they could not escape.

Soames believed that Irene belonged to him. She was his wife, and he would have her at any cost.  This belief turned him into a monster who would not be denied. We watched anger morph into despair, into hatred, into revenge.  It is a beautiful series, faultlessly done.  I felt sorry for many of the characters, but it was Soames that will remain seared in my mind.

It's All Temporary