The Forsyte Saga
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The Forsyte Saga is the collective title of a series of novels by John Galsworthy. The name has become almost synonymous with the tradition of "classic" television dramatisations, as a result of the BBC's marathon 1967 serialisation.
The sequence consists of three novels and two interludes: The Man of Property (1906), Indian Summer of a Forsyte (interlude) (1918), In Chancery (1920), Awakening (interlude) (1920), and To Let (1921), They deal, in a manner full of both humour and pathos, with the vicissitudes of the leading members of the Forsyte family, an upper-middle-class clan of businessmen. The main character, Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property," by virtue of his ability to accumulate material possessions—but this does not succeed in bringing him pleasure. Prior to the BBC dramatisation of the whole series The Man of Property had been brought to the screen in 1949 by Hollywood, as That Forsyte Woman (starring Greer Garson, Errol Flynn,Walter Pidgeon and Robert Young).
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[edit] Plot
What follows is an account of the adapted miniseries which aired c. 2002. For an accurate account of the novel's plot, look elsewhere.
In the beginning, the Forsytes gather to celebrate the wedding of Soames' sister Winifred to the penniless but dashing Montague Dartie. Winifred's cousin Young Jolyon is absent. He is experiencing feelings for his daughter June's governess, Helene Hilmer. He confronts his wife Frances and his father, telling them that he is in love with Helene. Young Jolyon soon finds himself cut off from the Forsyte fortune and family.
Soames, a prosperous partner in the family law firm, becomes attached to the beautiful but impoverished Irene Heron. She admits she does not and cannot love Soames, but under pressure from her stepmother she accepts his proposal after he agrees to let her go if the marriage doesn't work out.
Two years pass, and June has grown up and falls in the love with the architect Philip Bosinney, who proposes to her. June's grandfather and guardian, Old Jolyon, says that Bosinney needs to make more money before they can marry. Meanwhile, Irene is miserable living with Soames. Attempting to find favour with his wife, Soames hires Bosinney to build him a country mansion, called Robin Hill, in order that June and Bosinney can have enough income to marry. Unfortunately, Irene sees the house becoming a prison to her.
Old Jolyon misses his son, cut off from him and the rest of the Forsytes so long ago, and pays him a visit. Young Jolyon and Helene are living in bohemian poverty and by now have two children, Holly and Jolyon (Jolly). Meanwhile, Dartie and Winfred seem to be living the luxurious life, though Dartie frequently squanders his wife's money in gambling and failed business ventures.
At Robin Hill, the building continues, but there are misunderstandings in budgeting. Unknown to Soames, Bosinney is infatuated with Irene, having grown cold to June. Irene gradually falls under Bosinney's charm. While the family gossips about the growing affair, Soames is kept in the dark. During a family ball, Soames and June finally realize the growing affection between Irene and Bosinney. Irene asks Soames to let her go, but he refuses. Determined to ruin Bosinney for stealing his wife, Soames sues for breach of contract in building Robin Hill.
As the lawsuit begins, Irene and Bosinney plan to sell all their property if bankruptcy occurs. Irene has asked for a divorce, but Soames breaks his word by refusing her one. She locks him out of her room. Soames, however, comes in unannounced one night and rapes her. Irene meets with Bosinney the next day, and he discovers the truth. In a rage, Bosinney goes to confront Soames, but is run over by a cab outside of Soames's club and is killed. Before Bosinney's body is discovered, before anyone knows he has died, the court rules against him. Finally, his body is recovered; the police ask Soames to identify it, and Old Jolyon has to break the terrible news to June. Last to learn is Irene, who is told by Young Jolyon. He is now living as a gentleman, earning a substantial income from his father. Devastated, Irene has to return to Soames who shamelessly begs her to love him. Irene abandons Soames for a destitute life as a music teacher. Since Irene and Soames will not be living together at Robin Hill, Old Joylon decides to buy it, and lives there together with June and Young Jolyon's family.
Five years pass and Helene has died. One evening, Old Jolyon notices Irene at the opera, and later again on the grounds of Robin Hill. They renew acquaintance and he invites her to give young Holly piano lessons. With June and Young Jolyon abroad, Irene and Old Jolyon see each other often. He and Irene grow close before as his health fails, and soon later he dies. To the shock of the Forsytes, Old Jolyon has made a codicil to his will that leaves Irene 15,000 pounds. Young Jolyon, the executor of the will, becomes Irene's financial advisor, and slowly finds himself falling in love with her.
Twelve years pass and Soames is still obsessed with Irene, giving her the option of either granting him a divorce or giving him a son. A divorce would require proof of recent infidelity, but Irene insists that since the death of Bosinney she has "remained faithful to memory". Since Irene is resistant to both options, Soames begins a casual flirtation with Annette, daughter of a proprietress of a French restaurant.
A most disturbing occurrence happens when Dartie leaves Winfred for a Spanish dancer. He flees to South America, leaving Winfred and their two children in debt and disgrace. Unexpectedly, Winfred and Dartie's son, Val, falls in the love with Holly Forsyte, Young Jolyon's daughter. Because of the estrangement of Young Jolyon's second family from the rest of the Forsytes, Val and Holly keep their love a secret.
Soames pays Irene an unexpected visit and wants to resume his marriage to her since she won't grant a divorce. She consults with Young Jolyon, and they conclude that he will not rest until she grants him a divorce, or gives him an heir— one way or another. She quickly leaves for Paris to escape Soames's harassment.
Val Dartie and Jolly Forsyte, young and competitive, both enlist, and go off to war. Holly and June become nurses, and ship out to South Africa, where Jolly is ill with typhoid fever. Jolly dies, an event that hits Young Jolyon very hard. Soames discovers Irene and Young Jolyon together at Robin Hill just after they have learned of Jolly's death, and accuses them of adultery. They are not lovers, but they know that without admitting guilt, Irene will never be free of Soames. Irene and Soames divorce.
Soames marries Annette. She becomes pregnant, and Soames relishes the prospect of producing an heir at last. However, during Annette's delivery, there are serious complications. Soames gambles that the baby will be a boy, and tells the doctors to do what they can to save the child at all costs. A baby girl is born, Fleur, and at a cost— Annette will never bear another child. Soames, although disappointed, falls immediately in love with his daughter. Val and Holly marry, too. So do Young Jolyon and Irene, who have a son, Jon. They go to live in Robin Hill.
Almost twenty years pass. Jon and Fleur meet a few times and quickly fall in love. When their parents find out the truth, they are silently mortified. Neither Jon nor Fleur knows about Irene's marriage to Soames, or about how she came to leave him. The children notice their parents' strange behaviour, and become suspicious.
Meanwhile, Young Jolyon is no longer so young. He has developed a heart condition, and his doctor, who is not optimistic about his prognosis, advises him to tell Irene. Jolyon cannot face the prospect of troubling his wife, and conceals the truth from her.
At the same time, Soames's marriage to Annette, friendly but by no means passionate, chills a bit as she begins a flirtation with a Belgian gentleman named Prosper Profond. Fleur confronts Profond out of love for her father, but in retribution he tells Fleur that her father was once married to Irene.
A young man named Michael Mont is pursuing Fleur. Soames is pleased with the match, and so is Young Jolyon, who meets with Fleur and asks her to end her relationship with Jon. Jolyon and Irene can hardly tell their son whom he may see without being hypocrites; Jolyon hopes that if Fleur ends the affair, Jon can come out of it with his trust in his parents intact. Fleur agrees, but turns down Michael Mont's proposal and secretly plans her elopement with Jon.
Young Jolyon and Irene decide that they must at last explain the circumstances surrounding Irene's previous marriage and her divorce to Jon, but the stress is more than Jolyon's ailing body can handle, and he suffers a massive heart attack and dies.
Soames travels to Robin Hill to speak with Irene about Fleur and Jon. The meeting dredges up all of Soames's long repressed resentment of the fact that Irene never loved him, and all of Irene's continued fear of Soames's pursuit, even all these years later. The meeting is a fiasco, and Jon and Fleur break up. Fleur accepts Mont's proposal and Jon considers moving to New York. Irene decides to let Robin Hill and move back to Paris. Annette has left Soames for Profond, and so he has lost his wife and given away his daughter. Soames and Irene meet one last time, and, after half a lifetime of feuding, they are no longer enemies.
[edit] Adaptations
The phenomenal success of the BBC's dramatisation of the novels cannot be entirely attributed to its sheer length. Both adapted for television and produced by the highly experienced Donald Wilson, it was originally shown in twenty-six episodes on Sunday evenings, thus becoming, effectively, a soap opera. It was shown all over the world, and became the first British television programme to be sold to Soviet Union. It was the last major British drama serial to be shot in black and white, even though the BBC was already gearing up for full time colour broadcasting. In 1992 it was released in the UK on an 8-volume set of videos, and on region 2 DVD in 2004. Although never credited, the music that opens and closes each episode is the first movement, "Halcyon Days", from the suite "The Three Elizabeths" written in the early 1940s by Eric Coates, and its use very likely contributed to a resurgence in interest in the suite and its composer.
In 2002 the first three books were adapted by Granada Television for the ITV network, although, like the 1967 production, it took many liberties with Galsworthy's original work. Additional funding for this production was provided by American PBS station WGBH, the BBC version having been a success on PBS in the early 1970s. A second series followed in 2003 and these have also been released on DVD.
There have been two BBC radio dramatisations. The first came soon after the 1967 TV series. The second was broadcast in 1990 and comprised a 75-minute opening episode followed by 22 hour-long episodes, entitled The Forsyte Chronicles. It was the most expensive radio drama serial ever broadcast, due to its length and its big-name cast which included Dirk Bogarde and Diana Quick. The radio series was rerun on BBC 7 radio in 2004.
[edit] Characters
- Soames Forsyte, solicitor
- Irene Forsyte née Heron, Soames's first wife
- Young Jolyon Forsyte, painter
- Philip Bosinney, architect, Irene's lover
- June Forsyte, Bosinney's fiancée
- Old Jolyon Forsyte, patriarch of family
- James Forsyte, Soames's father
- Emily Forsyte, Soames's mother
- Aunt Ann Forsyte, the oldest of family
- Aunt Hester Forsyte, old maid
- Aunt Julia "Juley" Small née Forsyte, dowager
- Winifred Dartie née Forsyte, Soames's sister
- Montague Dartie, Winifred's husband
- Annette Forsyte née Lamotte, Soames's second wife
- Fleur Mont née Forsyte, daughter of Soames and Annette
- Jon Forsyte, Young Jolyon's son, Fleur's lover
- Michael Mont, baronet, Fleur's husband
- Smither, domestic of Aunts of Forsyte
- Bilson, Soames's housekeeper
- Parfitt, Old Jolyon's butler
- Warmson, James's butler
- Timothy Forsyte, the youngest of Old Forsytes
[edit] External links
- The Forsyte Chronicles at eBooks@Adelaide
- Full text of all volumes of The Forsyte Saga from Project Gutenberg
- Encyclopedia of Television (1967 series)
- British Film Institute Screen Online (1967 series)
- That Forsyte Woman at the Internet Movie Database
- The Forsyte Saga (1967 adaptation) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Forsyte Saga (2002 adaptation) at the Internet Movie Database
