My friends and I were watching this on Netflix, and we couldn't understand why they picked a girl to play a daughter to an English woman that was so obviously NOT English herself. We were saying, "her skin tone is off, and she looks almost Mexican???". Turns out, Paloma Baeza is this. What is wrong with picking English people to play English parts? Will an all white authentic cast make the show evil or racist? Shame on the directors of this film! This actress ruined the authenticity aspect of the show. Please take the time to contact directors of shows like this, and let them know you are hurt they do not choose authentic English people to play English parts. Outside of this, the show was very well done! David Suchet plays such amazingly convincing roles. From good guys, to bad guys... and everything in between.

"The Way We Live Now", a BBC/WGBH co-production, is powerful, and features some fine acting and well-written scenes, as well as lush settings and costumes, but it's obvious even to those who haven't read Anthony Trollope's novel that the story has been "jacked up" for modern viewers. On its own terms, the mini-series mostly gripped my attention, but I wondered if sections had been cut from the American release, because some parts of the story seem to be missing. For example, two characters who like each other in Episode 3 have already become engaged and estranged at the beginning of Episode 4--the actual proposal having been skipped over. The decision to cut such important plot elements in favor of unnecessary but atmospheric scenes (such as a wander with some characters through the forest on a fruitless deer hunt) was strange to me, but some viewers may prefer it. The director heightens many scenes by adding unnaturally loud sound effects, which will strike some as artfully intense, and others as vulgar.As far as its faithfulness to the novel, director David Yates and screenwriter Andrew Davies appear to have followed a "simplify and exaggerate" policy, presumably to make the story and characters clearer and more likable to a modern audience. It was easy to guess that the young women in the miniseries are made feistier and more independent than they are in the 19th-century original, but I was surprised, upon reading the book, to find that Paul Montague (Cillian Murphy) is also much more diffident on the page than he is on screen. Some changes fit well into a modern worldview: the love of Roger Carbury for his cousin Hetta is, rightly by today's standards, characterized as patronizing and oppressive, though Trollope wouldn't see it that way. But strangely, the fascinating character of Mrs. Hurtle, who has some of the most interesting speeches in the book, is reduced to being a "Southern" temptress in Miranda Otto's odd performance (since Mrs. Hurtle is only connected with Kansas and San Francisco in the original, the choice to make her speak like Tallulah Bankhead playing Julia Sugarbaker is puzzling).Andrew Davies' screenplay has some fine moments, and certain scenes shine. However, he gives the story the same invented ending as he's given at least one other miniseries based on a 19th-century novel.All in all, recommended for fans of period drama--with qualifications.

So amusing to see how hard viewers will avoid the obvious in the face of political correctness that makes even accurate observation so unpalatable that key motivation and character must be ignored in favor of blithe disregard.And this is the Trollop novel in which the famous Trollope ploy is played in the game between Mrs Hurtle and her lover. This was the key to solving the Cuban missile crisis according to Ted Sorenson and others all though disputer by others involved.A fine series of performances, although Mrs Hurtle is less Southern, than Antipodean, with her accent

The Way We Live Now is yet another British TV adaptation of the works of Anthony Trollope. Like The Pallisers and The Barchester Chronicles this is yet another mini-series to savor. The rich setting of 1870's London society is boldly brought to the screen. David Suchet gives the performance of his career as scoundrel Augustus Malmotte. Equally brilliant is Shirley Henderson as his daughter Marie. Henderson has emerged as one of the more spellbinding thespians of the last ten years. Why she isn't a major star when performers with a tiny fraction of her talent are on the A-list is one of those mysteries that will never be explained. Still, this is not quite up there in the same league with The Pallisers. Some of the characters are not that interesting. Unfortunately, Miranda Otto as Mrs. Hurtle and Cillian Murphy as Paul Montague are miscast.