Mary & George
Deliciously dark, hit historical drama
“If I were a man and looked like you, I’d rule the planet.”
Mary Villiers (Julianne Moore) is trying to impress on her 20-year-old secondborn son George (Nicholas Galitzine) his need to use his talents and “raise himself” – or risk being nothing.
Once the child whom she threatened to extinguish after he was dropped during childbirth, he was saved only because of the “grace and light” Mary saw in him.
But now he appears to be her best hope for the future, if only she can further his education in France so he can “return to marry an awful, rich wife and milk her dowry”.
However, George has no desire to leave the “love of his life”, maid Jenny (Emily Fairn), and reminds Mary that his father – her husband, George Sr (Simon Russell Beale) – is against wasting money on such a folly, at least while he still draws breath.
Cue his sudden demise, followed within weeks by Mary’s announcement that she is to marry Sir Thomas Compton (Sean Gilder) – that decision prompted by a visit to her lawyer who outlines how she now doesn’t even own her own home.
While Sir Thomas is suspicious of her sudden advances, she assures him that she is after his companionship rather than his fortune, save a “small stipend for her son’s education”.
There’s also the small matter of persuading George himself, a hurdle Mary quickly handles by suggesting that if he doesn’t cross the Channel, she’ll “send his beloved Jenny back to her brutish family”.
“I hate you,” is his response. “Only because you know I’m right,” she snaps back, reminding him that if he “misses this chance” he’ll be “smeared in the unwashable excrement of eternal shame”.
Having finally packed him off to learn French, fencing and a more libertine way of looking at life, Mary is intrigued to hear that King James I plans to visit her.
While Sir Thomas is no fan of hosting the “dead-eyed, horny-handed horror who surrounds himself with well-hung beauties” because of “the expense, mess and paperwork”, she is eager to meet him.
“Do you think you can seduce the king like you did me?” Sir Thomas scoffs. “You’ve got one too few penises and two too many tits.”
Rather than dissuade Mary, that merely makes her think she needs to ensure someone else attracts the royal gaze.
Full of fruity language, bad behaviour and scheming, the seven-part, early 17th century historical drama Mary & George (debuting on TVNZ+ tomorrow) is not for the faint-hearted or easily offended.
Closer in style and tone to the blackly comedic The Great rather than Bridgerton, D.C.Moore’s adaptation of Benjamin Woolley’s 2017 non-fiction book The King’s Assassin revels in its depiction of impolite society and privileged people seemingly able to do whatever they want in order to get what they want. Saltburn circa 1612, if you will.
And although this offersGalitzine (The Changeover, The Idea of You) another chance to show off his smouldering looks and leading-man abilities – and the impressive ensemble includes Tony Curran (Outlaw King) and Niamh Algar (The Virtues) – this is very much a Julianne Moore masterclass.
The Academy Award winner (for Still Alice) is at her overwrought best, ensuring her Mary is the focal point of every scene she’s in and delivering pithy put-downs and honey-toned persuasions with equal aplomb.
One moment she’s excoriating an ailing George Sr for a marriage that has “built nothing but regret and syphilis scars”, the next she’s assuring her son that “we face the world together” – just as long as he does exactly what she tells him too.
Mary & George begins streaming on TVNZ+ tomorrow.