The Norman Conquests

Our DVD Price: £7.99 RRP: £19.99 Save £12.00 (60%)   Availability This product should be despatched within 7 days.  This product will be dispatched from Guernsey. Delivery times   Earn 35 Bonus Points when you buy this product. More info

Also available on... 

VHS £28.99 

RRP £29.99 You save £1.00 (3%)

View in full detail

Film Description

TV adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's brilliant comic trilogy. Three interconnected plays that recount the events of a single weekend, from 5.30p.m on Saturday to a little after 9.00 a.m on Monday.

Film Information

DVD Extras

3 discs.

Technical Details

Reviews & Articles

Share your thoughts and opinions - write a review

Review by Alex Davidson on 4th May 2004

In the last few years, directors have been praised for their innovative use of time structure in their films. Both Memento and Irreversible were acclaimed for their back-to-front narratives, the “real time” element of the series 24 gave a real sense of urgency to the drama, and the split-screen technique of Mike Figgis’ Timecode added a degree of audience interaction as the viewer decided which of the four stories he would concentrate upon. As great as these works are, however, they are heavily indebted to the pioneering theatre of a middle class gentleman from Hampstead – Alan Ayckbourn.

Many of Ayckbourn’s comedies subvert narrative conventions – for example, in Time Of My Life, three stories involving the same characters take place simultaneously on the same stage, with one going back in time, one showing the present, and one indicating what the future holds for these characters. The Norman Conquests also played with a time structure gimmick – three plays that all take place at the same time (though on separate nights) in three different places in the family house (the dining room, the living room and the garden). When a character walks out of the living room in one play, he or she may enter the action in the garden in another. This demanding time structure works incredibly well, and the BBC version of the play is the best televised adaptation of Ayckbourn’s work yet.

The plot is simple – a family discovers that Annie (Penelope Wilton) is planning an affair with Norman (Tom Conti) and react in various different ways. The work is extremely well-cast, with a host of familiar faces gleaned from quality sitcoms (The Good Life’s Penelope Keith and Richard Briers are terrific as a permanently bickering couple). The comic timing is as acute as one would expect, but there are some surprisingly moving scenes as well, such as those involving the would-be cuckolded wife, Ruth (Fiona Walker), whose acerbic façade eventually cracks when she realizes the extent of her husband’s betrayal.

It is the comic set-pieces that are the work’s real forté ; beautifully well-observed sequences involving confused seating arrangements, a complicated board game and unfoldable deckchairs poke gentle fun at the ridiculousness of the middle-class characters. The humour is so frothy and affectionate - more recent films have been far more cutting about the bourgeoisie - that The Norman Conquests serves as a charming time capsule of how comedy used to be; charming, well-acted and very, very funny.

View more reviews by Alex Davidson

Review by Barry Forshaw on 29th April 2004

For those starved of intelligent, witty theatre, this is a bouquet indeed. Not every Alan Ayckbourn play has transferred successfully to the screen, but this is an almost unqualified success, with every one-liner delivered with immaculate precision by a stellar cast head by Tom Conti.

View more reviews by Barry Forshaw

Browse all Film Reviews

See Also...

Hand-picked recommendations of related films

Abigails Party Dir: Mike Leigh A by-word for death by embarrassment. When Beverly invites a few friends and neighbours round for drinks and nib... More >

Stephen Poliakoff Box Set Dir: Stephen Poliakoff / Peter Duffell A collection of two Stephen Poliakoff scripted dramas. Caught on a Train (Duffell, 1980) was inspired by the dir... More >

The Oscar Wilde Collection Dir: T V Four adaptations of Oscar Wilde's plays featuring some of the greats of British stage and screen. The plays feat... More >

Customers who bought this also bought...

Recommendations from fellow customers

Mon Oncle

by Jacques Tati

The Leopard

by Luchino Visconti

Playtime

by Jacques Tati

La Regle du Jeu

by Jean Renoir

A Warning to the Curious

by Lawrence Gordon Clark

Other films by...

More films directed by T V

Fred Dibnahs Ups And Downs Of Chimneys

Monkey! (Episodes 14 To 26) (Box Set 2)

Woody Woodpecker And Friends

Monkey! (Vol 12)

Seinfeld - Season 3

View more >

More films starring Richard Briers

Twelfth Night (Branagh, 1988)

by Kenneth Branagh

The Plank (1979) & Its Your Move

by Eric Sykes

Girl On The Boat

by Henry Kaplan

Watership Down (Complete TV Series)

by Troy Sullivan

Good Life

by

View more >

More films starring Penelope Wilton

Cry Freedom

by Richard Attenborough

Iris

by Richard Eyre

The Borrowers (Series 2)

by T V

Othello (BBC, 1981)

by Colin Lowrey

Ever Decreasing Circles (The Complete Collection)

by Various / TV

View more >

More films starring Tom Conti

Shirley Valentine

by Lewis Gilbert

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

by Nagisa Oshima

Dennis Potter at London Weekend Television (Volume 1)

by Various / TV

American Dreamer

by Rick Rosenthal

Madame Bovary (BBC) (1975)

by Rodney Bennett

View more >

More films starring Penelope Keith

To The Manor Born (Box Set)

by T V

Good Life

by

The Good Life - Complete Series 2

by Various / TV

The Noël Coward Collection

by Various / Compilation

To the Manor Born (25th Anniversary Special)

by Various / TV

View more >

More films starring David Troughton

Cider with Rosie (TV, 1999)

by Charles Beeson

Sharpes Rifles

by Tom Clegg

Sharpes Eagle

by Tom Clegg

View more >

For questions or assistance, call us on (+44) 0844 776 0900 or email on enquiries@moviemail-online.co.uk

© 2004-2007 MovieMail, Ltd., All Rights Reserved. Find out more about MovieMail