6 Excellent Period Dramas To Watch On Netflix

It's never easy deciding what to watch. With a plethora of films available on even a single streaming service and new movies being added every month, even the most dedicated cinephiles among us have difficulty making a choice, never mind making it a good one. To assist our readers with choosing an awesome film, each week I’ll bring you six high-class selections available on Netflix Watch Instant to indulge your insatiable need for streaming options. Last week, we dove into some horror comedies. This week, let's look at some romantic, comedic, and melodramatic period dramas to get you out of your post-Halloween, horror-induced malaise. 6) Mansfield Park Based on Jane Austen’s novel of the same name, Mansfield Park is unique in the world of Austen for its expansion of the novel’s themes. Fanny Price (Frances O’Connor) is sent to live with her uncle and aunt at Mansfield Park; there, she develops a strong affection for her cousin Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller). Their world is sent into upheaval, however, by the appearance of Henry and Mary Crawford (Alessandro Nivola and Embeth Davidtz). Romantic complications of the Austenian variety ensue, but one is assured that everything will turn out all right in the end. Somehow. Mansfield Park has been criticized by Austen fans as departing in several major ways from its source material (most clearly the criticism of slavery and plantation culture, from which the family makes their money). But I think that it takes Austen’s themes and expands upon them, allowing in criticism of Austen’s culture without entirely condemning the characters themselves. In any case, it’s a far more serious story than Pride and Prejudice, and actually quite a bit better for its lack of total dedication to its source. 5) Mrs. Brown Yes, we all love stories about Queen Victoria, but how many of them center on the Queen after her youth? Mrs. Brown takes on the question of Queen Victoria’s life after Albert, as the grieving Queen (Judi Dench) forms a quasi-romantic attachment to her husband’s Scottish servant Brown (Billy Connolly). The romance causes serious consternation in the court, especially as the exact nature of their relationship is rumored but never substantiated. Brown seems to exert more and more influence over the Queen, drawing into question the monarch’s continued rule in the very society she helped to create. While the film never makes explicit a possible sexual relationship, there’s enough sexual tension between Dench and Connolly to make one imagine just about anything. But it’s also a poignant and touching film about the nature of grief and the requirements placed on a widow and a monarch at a very complicated time in British history. What’s more, it succeeds in humanizing a Queen often reduced to a caricature based on the era that bears her name. 4) An Ideal Husband We all know that Oscar Wilde is the undisputed King of Snark, but he’s also a lot more than that, as proven with the excellent An Ideal Husband, a story about politics, marriage, and scandal. Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam) is an up and coming politician with a brilliant career and beautiful, adoring wife (Cate Blanchett). But darkness is coming in the form of Mrs. Cheveley (Julianne Moore), who holds a letter that indicates some political indiscretions that could seriously damage Sir Robert’s career. With the help of his foppish friend Lord Goring (Rupert Everett) (who’s also in love with Sir Robert’s sister Mabel), Sir Robert has to stop Mrs. Cheveley before she ruins his career, and marriage, forever. An Ideal Husband is a remarkably faithful adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play, with excellent performances by a bevy of British character actors. The center, of course, is Rupert Everett’s Lord Goring. Oscar Wilde’s stand-in and a sharp commentator beneath his foppish exterior, he traverses the political and social world with deceptive ease, spouting bon mots at every step and proving to be a lot smarter than he appears. The film is one of the most enjoyable adaptations of Wilde you’re likely to come across. 3) A Room With A View If you think all period dramas are dull tales of repressed English aristocrats, then check out A Room With a View for proof to the contrary. Based on E.M. Forster’s novel, A Room with a View follows the fortunes of Lucy (Helena Bonham Carter) and her cousin Charlotte (Maggie Smith) as they travel through Italy. There they meet George (Julian Sands), a depressive young man traveling with his father (Denholm Elliot). George and Lucy fall in love, but are separated by the propriety of early 20th Century England. When they meet again back in England, the romance once again blossoms, but Lucy is already engaged to the demanding Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). A Room with a View defies expectations: there’s a good bit of male nudity, an impassioned romance, and a young woman attempting to break free of the constraints of her society. It’s a well-made melodrama, faithful to its source material without sacrificing its cinematic structure. Even if you’re not a fan of period dramas, it’s worth a look. 2) Enchanted April Moving forward just a little bit in time, Enchanted April is another story about English people displanted to the Mediterranean, and the glorious world that they find there. Four very different women decide to split expenses and share a medieval castle on the Mediterranean for the month of April, leaving home, hearth, and husbands behind for some fun in the sun. As they shed some of the more oppressive trappings of their English life, the women find freedom during their vacation…and gradually begin to come to terms with the tribulations of their different lives. While we might put Enchanted April solidly into the “chick flick” category, it’s far more than an escapist fantasy. Superficial character types at first, the four women grow into fully fledged human beings as time goes on, their love lives expanded and explored as they break the mold of their culture. Moving, humorous, and occasionally melodramatic, Enchanted April is a sharp, intelligent film that proves to be far more than it initially appears. 1) Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day Frances McDormand stars in this 1930s period piece about strait-laced governess Miss Pettigrew who goes to work for a beautiful singer/actress (Amy Adams) as a secretary. Over the course of a single day, the world changes for both Miss Pettigrew and her new employer, as the pair protect each other, teach each other, and push one another to find true love. As with many of the films on this list, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day defies generic expectations to create an emotionally resonant film that far exceeds what we think of when we think “period drama.” Without becoming melodramatic, the film draws out Miss Pettigrew’s apparent repression and exposes it as the defense mechanism of a woman who has been hurt but not beaten by the world. It’s a lovely and surprisingly complex movie, both comedy and drama, coming to a satisfying conclusion for all concerned.