content: I bought this movie based on all the glowing five-star reviews (and based on the fact that I am desperate for more great period pieces). Well, this is not a great period piece. It is better than Berkeley Square, for instance, but is nothing near the level of Pride and Prejudice or Wives and Daughters. The acting is good, the scenery is wonderful, but the script is only average (and sometimes poor). The story is bleak with no real pay-off, like Dickens without the humor or the subtlety. There is nothing more annoying than unrealistic or manufactured tragedy (think Jude the Obscure), and this story is in that line. If you can find the DVD on sale, it might be worth wasting a rainy night with, but I doubt it is one you will want to watch over and over.