Titanic (2012)

Directed by: Jon Jones | 240 minutes | drama | Actors: Peter McDonald, Ruth Bradley, Georgia McCutcheon, Steven Waddington, Glen Blackhall, Antonio Magro, Michele Moran, Perdita Weeks, Linus Roache, Tim Downie, James Wilby, Stephen Campbell Moore, Lyndsey Marshal, Lee Ross, Geraldine Somerville, Toby Jones Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Shane Attwooll, Matt Devere, Lloyd Hutchinson, Kevin Lukacs, Geoffrey Thomas, Sophie Rundle, Laurie Hagen, David Calder, Miles Richardson

Another production on the ‘Titanic’? Well, why not? Could that have been the thought when giving the green light to this richly dressed British miniseries? After all the movies, TV movies and documentaries, is there more to tell about the most famous shipping disaster in history? According to Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellows (“Gosford Park”), yes. He turns it into an extensive soap, in the vein of his successful series ‘Downton Abbey’, full of contradictions: struggle between the classes (rich and poor, but also between old and new money), conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, English and Irish. , Italians and Americans. All kinds of currents and social issues from that time are discussed: the possibility of a European war, anarchists, champions of women’s suffrage and the question of self-government for Ireland (“Home Rule”).

The passengers of the ‘Titanic’ thus form a microcosm of society in 1912 – as it undoubtedly was in reality – but the question is whether all these entanglements are now so interesting in the light of the coming tragedy. As a viewer, it’s not all that exciting that the passengers get excited about an Italian flight attendant in the first class dining room, or that Benjamin Guggenheim travels with his mistress, or that electrician Maloney secretly takes another cabin in the third class, knowing that such social conventions will soon become academic once the ship hits the famous iceberg.

Fellows’ script repeats the same patterns over and over: many of the crew are disadvantaged in one way or another: American servants are scorned by English servants, and it also matters to the English who you work for; sometimes it is incidental, for example because the officers of the White Star Line shipping company are subordinated by a forced new officer, often it is structural: a second class passenger never becomes a first class passenger, not to mention for the crowded masses in “steerage” ( third class).

What the miniseries does do is show the futility of the class contradictions. Snobbishness and rivalry, any more than what your faith is, or your prejudices about others, don’t matter so much anymore, when the lifeboats run out and more than 1,500 of the 2,200 on board will perish in the icy waters of the Atlantic. “Death is the great Equalizer” goes the saying, but here it’s a bit of a false comparison. The boats were first loaded with women and children, with the first class having the best chance of survival.

The whole is beautifully decorated and the acting is good – even if the conversations are not always of the highest level. There are a number of familiar faces from other television series (such as ‘The Tudors’ and ‘Downton Abbey’) or supporting roles in feature films: important roles include Linus Roache (Lord Manton) and Geraldine Sommerville (Lady Manton) and Toby Jones and Maria Doyle Kennedy (as the Batleys). The ship is mainly visible from the inside, from the bridge to the stoker’s rooms and from the luxurious suites and the promenade deck to the narrow corridors and bare bunk beds in the third class. Despite the limited budget, there are also a number of acceptable shots of the Titanic on the quay and sailing (and sinking) at sea. An interesting perspective is also the preparations for the trip. They are details that may not be central to the plot, but they do give a fresh dimension to the whole. For example, we see power lines hanging loose, the inventory of stocks (3500 onions, for example) and discussions at the head office of the shipping company whether there are enough lifeboats on board (yes, more than required by law at the time) and whether the correct rivets have been used. . But here too Fellows trots on a bit: in a flashback to 1911, for example, Winston Churchill (then Minister of the Interior) barking harshly is portrayed, who is looking for the anarchist/criminal Peter Lubov (Dragos Bucur). The same Lubov who casually boarded the Titanic a year later and docked it with married Mary Maloney (Ruth Bradley).

The structure of the miniseries is remarkable: in the first parts a number of characters are followed, in each episode the ship collides with the iceberg and a kind of cliffhanger is built in, after which the story from a different perspective in the next part. starts again, with the different scenes overlapping each other. It is only in the last episode that it becomes clear for whom the disaster ends badly – ​​and who is ultimately rescued. It is an original find, which, however, does not come out optimally. There are too many characters, too many storylines, which makes the whole cluttered, and the apparently clear structure goes awry. By cutting up the separate storylines, the tension is broken and as a viewer you don’t really empathize with the characters – and that’s not so good when their lives are in great danger. Another annoying point is that as a viewer you sometimes have the feeling that the characters have embarked on the “Love Boat”. It is truly incredible how many romances seem to develop in the few days between the departure from Southampton on April 10, 1912 and the sinking of the ‘Titanic’ on the night of April 14-15. It’s not only unbelievable, but also quite unbelievable. It’s such a striking and artificial scenario trick that it gets more and more disturbing as the parts go along.

It’s hard to judge ‘Titanic’ on its own merits without thinking of James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster of the same name. It’s far from fair to compare the two, not in terms of acting talent and certainly not in terms of special effects. Yet this miniseries also shows how well Cameron’s version actually put together in terms of story, despite the schmaltzy tone and the whining of Celine Dion. The miniseries basically does the same thing: a mixture of historical and fictional characters, people from different classes fall in love, even includes a clumsy jewelry heist and desperately saying goodbye to loved ones left behind. Gentlemen of class behave like gentlemen of class and drink another glass and the orchestra continues to play until the last. Fellows knows how to add little originality to a story that is already well known by millions around the world. Apart from the scenes that take place prior to the departure, as a viewer you don’t actually learn anything new. This makes it a kind of repetition of moves – certainly due to the structure of the individual episodes – and then the series really loses compared to Cameron’s film.