Even in the pantheon of gloriously, stubbornly individualistic literary heroines, Sybylla Melvyn stands out. Dispatched from the family homestead at Possum Gully in the Australian Outback to find a suitable husband and bail her parents out of the debt her feckless, heavy-drinking dad has accumulated, Sybylla is instead far more interested in pursuing her dream of being a writer.
But could the appearance of a stream of promising suitors – notably wealthy, dashing kindred spirit Harry Beecham and uptight dullard Frank Hawdon – knock her off course?
Well, no – or not in the way you might expect, were you unfamiliar with the 1901 novel on which screenwriter Liz Doran’s lively six-part adaptation is based. Written by Miles Franklin when she was just a teenager, My Brilliant Career became something of a set text in Australia, with the 1979 cinematic adaptation announcing the arrivals of Judy Davis and Sam Neill on the global stage.
This version may well do the same for Philippa Northeast, Christopher Chung and Jake Dunn, each of whom is on the cusp of the big time. Dunn will soon take centre stage as Peter Guillam in the BBC’s upcoming John Le Carré epic Legacy of Spies, but here does excellent work as Frank, a strait-laced traditionalist who may not be the antediluvian boor he first appears.
As for Chung, Harry represents the sort of gallant romantic hero-cum-chiselled sex god his best-known character – the absurd Roddy Ho from Slow Horses – wrongly believes himself to be, complete with a wet shirt moment that can only be a nod to you-know-who.
View Green Video on the source websiteChung’s casting also allows for the sort of ruminations on race that the original either couldn’t or wouldn’t address. (See also a valuable if slightly underexplored plot strand involving an Indigenous stablehand.) Other characters prompt equally intriguing if fleeting examinations of homosexuality in an impossibly hostile environment – a subject perhaps too thorny even for this most determinedly modern of novels.
And then there’s Northeast, last seen in the UK in The Newsreader and here every bit the star-in-waiting. She is perfect as Sybylla, "spirited" (as the argot of the times would put it), self-regarding and occasionally entitled, but also overflowing with a joie de vivre that extends to al fresco weeing, a relentless curiosity for life and a resilience that just about holds firm as misogyny and glass ceilings curb but never quite quash her instincts and desires. During the series she becomes a governess to an unruly brood, makes a convenient if ill-advised match and overhears life-changing revelations on more than one occasion. All these potential setbacks, though, are turned to her advantage, giving her fresh ideas in both life and work.
Anna Chancellor, meanwhile, has a ball reprising a familiar archetype as Sybylla’s high-handed, snobbish grandmother, and Kate Mulvany does fascinating work as Harry’s bohemian aunt whose own dreams have been compromised more than she might care to admit.
Doran’s production bears the heavy influences of Bridgerton and Apple TV’s underrated Dickinson, both in its use of contemporary-ish music in period settings (Young Turks, Born to Be Alive and Atomic are among the modern classics to get the treatment) and its embrace of the proto-feminist figure at its heart; the language, too, blends past and present effectively.
None of this truly jars, however: the anachronisms (hash cookies make an unlikely appearance) are faithful to the mood if not the letter of the novel. It also looks spectacular – the hardscrabble nature of life in the Australian wilderness encroaches on but never dominates the machinations of high society, while the set pieces – a ball, a country fair, a horse race – prove especially impactful.
As a love story, it wrong-foots; as a coming-of-ager, it delights; as a portrait of creative frustration, it works. As a whole, it’s perilously close to brilliant.
My Brilliant Career releases on 13 August on Netflix.
Add My Brilliant Career to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Hence then, the article about my brilliant career review this netflix period drama is perilously close to brilliant was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( My Brilliant Career review: This Netflix period drama is perilously close to brilliant )
Also on site :
- 50mph speed limits and double cost of second homes: What Burnham should do in first 100 days, according to Labour pressure group
- SEM Scanning Crosses the Global Guideline Threshold: Elevated to Recommended Pressure Injury Prevention Technology
- Oscars: Switzerland Selects ‘Who is Still Alive’ About Palestinians Who Escaped Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza