I give it a 10, because this series has brought me everything I want in a movie. It has enthralled me, bewitched me, given me hours of pleasure. When the last shot expired, I immediately wanted to see it again, that's how much I loved it. After I gave the 10, I started to read the reviews and I felt really stupid. There they were: the flaws, the faults, the incongruencies, the anachronisms, the everything you name in order not to like a movie. I wanted to change my score, but then I thought: yes it has flaws - I would say: OF COURSE it has flaws. But must a movie be technically perfect in order to get a 10? No. It just has to bewitch you, just as this one did to me.
Now the peculiarities: What I found most frappant, is the appearance of the characters. I have lived for 37 years in Amsterdam and I can testify: especially Petronella has an absolute Dutch face! And I see every day lots of Marins in the streets. I was so puzzled by this that I stopped watching to check on the web if the actrices were Dutch! Which they aren't.
Yes, some of the reviews were correct, there are flaws. The scenery is not Amsterdam, it's Leiden (this is not a flaw by the way, it's perfectly normal to divert from the books actual place when it has become too modern to use for filming). The inside of the houses are not even Dutch. The houses at the Herengracht all have a specific Dutch position of the rooms. I didn't recognize this in the picture. But the wooden panels, the colours (grachtengroen!), the garments, all is absolutely recognisable as old Dutch (some of this still exist). A Dutch friend of mine pointed out that in real life, doll houses are modelled after (possibly) real existing buildings while as in the film, it is the other way round: the house is modelled after the doll house. And doll houses have to be broad. That would explain why the house in the film doesn't have the shape of a 'grachtenhuis' in Amsterdam.
Also true that the Dutch don't use "Señor" but perhaps they did back then in the XVIIth century in some cases? Because of the Spanish hegemony?
Lots of the critics appear to me as funded. But I got the feeling lots of them were outed by Americans, not Europeans. They say things like: "it's woke! There were no homosexuals in the XVIIth century" "Masters would never talk that way to servants" "A woman would never say "I can do this"" etc I think they are shocked by the modernity of the characters. It didn't bother me. Every film, even historical, is a product of its time: in hindsight you recognize the epoch it is made immediately. So its never truly historical, isn't it? It is, as best, historical as historically seen in the year of the making. So this series is a product of our time. Is it so bad? And furthermore: is it impossible for such characters to have truly lived at that time? There were homosexuals, there were intelligent girls like Petronella, there were slaves granted their freedom, and perhaps they didn't use the exact words The Miniaturist proposes, but perhaps a pair of them had those idea's, and ways? History doesn't recall all of the beings and all what they do, does it?
As for the servants and their straight forward ways, yes it's a bit modern, but near the end it becomes clear why they act like they do. It's a very special household.
Whatever. I started by saying I loved it, and love it I did. All of the above didn't manage a bit to refrain me from doing so. Thanks to writer and makers for their hard work.
Now the peculiarities: What I found most frappant, is the appearance of the characters. I have lived for 37 years in Amsterdam and I can testify: especially Petronella has an absolute Dutch face! And I see every day lots of Marins in the streets. I was so puzzled by this that I stopped watching to check on the web if the actrices were Dutch! Which they aren't.
Yes, some of the reviews were correct, there are flaws. The scenery is not Amsterdam, it's Leiden (this is not a flaw by the way, it's perfectly normal to divert from the books actual place when it has become too modern to use for filming). The inside of the houses are not even Dutch. The houses at the Herengracht all have a specific Dutch position of the rooms. I didn't recognize this in the picture. But the wooden panels, the colours (grachtengroen!), the garments, all is absolutely recognisable as old Dutch (some of this still exist). A Dutch friend of mine pointed out that in real life, doll houses are modelled after (possibly) real existing buildings while as in the film, it is the other way round: the house is modelled after the doll house. And doll houses have to be broad. That would explain why the house in the film doesn't have the shape of a 'grachtenhuis' in Amsterdam.
Also true that the Dutch don't use "Señor" but perhaps they did back then in the XVIIth century in some cases? Because of the Spanish hegemony?
Lots of the critics appear to me as funded. But I got the feeling lots of them were outed by Americans, not Europeans. They say things like: "it's woke! There were no homosexuals in the XVIIth century" "Masters would never talk that way to servants" "A woman would never say "I can do this"" etc I think they are shocked by the modernity of the characters. It didn't bother me. Every film, even historical, is a product of its time: in hindsight you recognize the epoch it is made immediately. So its never truly historical, isn't it? It is, as best, historical as historically seen in the year of the making. So this series is a product of our time. Is it so bad? And furthermore: is it impossible for such characters to have truly lived at that time? There were homosexuals, there were intelligent girls like Petronella, there were slaves granted their freedom, and perhaps they didn't use the exact words The Miniaturist proposes, but perhaps a pair of them had those idea's, and ways? History doesn't recall all of the beings and all what they do, does it?
As for the servants and their straight forward ways, yes it's a bit modern, but near the end it becomes clear why they act like they do. It's a very special household.
Whatever. I started by saying I loved it, and love it I did. All of the above didn't manage a bit to refrain me from doing so. Thanks to writer and makers for their hard work.