Parade's End. Rebecca Hall.

After an extremely justifiably restless day yesterday, I settled down for a show that I had just somewhere briefly read about and knew that  a friend had saved it on my hard drive along with some other fantastic (Read Bernie, Smashed and many more) movies. I easily glided into Parade's End  (despite of not being a very huge fan of British dramas). Probably just a few minutes passed before I wrapped up four hours of the miniseries, directed by Susanna White and written by Tom Stoppard. I am four episodes down right now and I am quite high on the show. And one of the most important reasons for that (apart from the sheer brilliance of the show, the costumes, the slightly muggy storyline and truly intriguing Benedict Cumberbatch) is Rebecca Hall. Right from the scene one, she held me captive.  

Okay first. I have a huge girl crush on her right now. Honestly, I hadn't seen anything Rebecca Hall so far except for Woody Allen's juice box movie Vicky, Christina, Barcelona where somewhere she might have been burnt alive (along with Scarlett Johansson) by the fire that Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz on screen are. But there is absolutely no one in Parade's End that could come near her. Her character, Sylvia, is probably the most brilliantly etched out character in the show. Don't take me wrong, Christopher's character is interesting too but personally, every time I look at him, all I want to do is either punch him really fucking hard on his stomach or shred his clothes and make him have sex with Sylvia. (Don't worry I am not a nympho, you will know the sex angle when you watch the show).

It would be an understatement to say that Hall brings so much raw life and energy into the character. She looks breathtakingly spectacular in each scene. She weaves the complexity of the character even through her breathing. Right from the moment she asks pale Christopher for a cigarette, instantly infusing blood in his veins  to her breaking the glass plate in the next to next scene when she finds him making corrections in Encyclopedia Britannica. From her casual dalliance with Potty who makes her laugh when he threatens to shoot her to her announcement of her vows to be chaste for her husband to her various pitiful, sharp, ridiculous, on the verge of breakdown attempts to be with her husband, to illicit any ounce of emotion out of him, emotional, physical, whatever. 

Rebecca Hall is the fire of Parade's End. 

(Pictures' courtesy: tumblr.com)