I recently professed my new but undying love for the novel Any Human Heart which is a compilation of fictional journals by Logan Mountstuart, a novel that proved that "every life if both ordinary and extraordinary". I had purchased the mini-series prior to the novel and it's been sitting on my shelf gathering a large amount of dust and after reading the novel I was quite happy for it to gather even more. Although I was aware that there was some critical acclaim for the series I was afraid that my love for the novel would make my opinion about the series biased, I would feel that the series paled in comparison. I had nothing to fear.
I recently had a birthday and rather than be fun and celebrate I decided to take a few days off of work to stay at home. I planned on it being a lazy few days where I'd accomplish something which I love, mass procrastination. It was not to be, I saw a light shining on the DVD and for some reason I couldn't resist. I popped it in the player and sat atop my bed for several hours ingesting the mini-series in one binge watch session. I've already lived with Mountstuart, loved with him, grieved with him and died with him so what impact could the mini-series really have for me? I feared that it would dilute the events that happened in the novel but it didn't, it opened my eyes a little more.In the novel Mountstuart embarks on an unhappy marriage and seeks solace in the arms of Freya, a relationship which eventually ends in tragedy. The series may exorcise a few sections of the novel for timing or budgeting reasons but this relationship stays mostly in tact. In the series Freya is portrayed by Hayley Attewell and the incarnation of Mountstuart that she is entangled with (there are three) is portrayed by Michael Macfayden, and they ooze chemistry. I was aware that they were very much entwined both physically and emotionally when reading the novel but seeing their relationship play out in front of me makes their love for one another even more evident, they are halves of a whole and although their relationship may have seemingly begun through a lust driven affair it evolved into so much more and makes the viewers root for them.
The chemistry between Attewell and Macfayden was off the charts, I completely believed in their relationship which is what made the events so difficult to handle. I mentioned in the previous post that the novel spans many different decades, one of the most important being WW2. Prior to this the twosome lived a blissful existence with their daughter Stella until Mountstuart was called into action and ended up being a prisoner of war. Most people would've feared for their own lives in his position but he felt a need to be with his family, with anguish at them not knowing where he was and whether he was dead or alive. He suffered a brutal ordeal, one that no one should have to go through and his family were the light at the end of the tunnel for him, but on his return to London he discovers that his family lost their lives during the WW2. Watching the scene where he discovers this and has a complete breakdown at the site where their deaths occurred broke me more than the novel did, it's possible that it effected me more than any novel/series has done in recent times. I would recommend everyone watch the series for this scene alone as Macfayden is remarkable, I felt the characters grief when reading the novel and it's amplified infinitely when watching the series.
It's clear that even in the novel that he was never able to move on from that life altering day in London, he may have remarried and had other women but it was always Freya. We can see this in the novel because he mentions her frequently but I think the series portrays Freya looming over the rest of his life even more so, we actually get to see her in the background of scenes of his new life, she is the ghost that Mountstuart can never get away from. Even in his seemingly happy moments, like the ones with his step-daughter Gail, she is ever present. Even in his final moments she is there waiting for him as he (this time played by Jim Broadbent) takes his final breathes and gives into death. Yes, I was aware of his enduring love for her during the novel but the series made it ever so clearer. He made attempts to move on with his life in both the novel and mini-series but Freya was behind any choice he made, and although I didn't see it at first glance with the novel I see it now.
So this is a rubbish "Vs." post because I loved them both. With the novel I got to explore Mountstuart's life in full, even when he's in the throes of War or in his later years living in many different continents and trying to cling onto any morsel of happiness or excitement he can find. With the mini-series I got to explore his greatest loves, and it was better than watching any conventional love story play out on screen. The novel helped my viewing of the mini-series and the mini-series helped my reading of the novel.
I say don't pick which one is better, have them both.
Live Long and Blog!
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