Say "War and Peace" to anyone and their immediate thought normally is "Wow, isn't that really long?!" So when a friend recommended watching the BBC's 2016 adaptation starring Paul Dano, Lily James, and James Norton I was worried it would be a turgid watch. How wrong was I?!
Quite simply, this is a hypnotic, brilliant adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic by Andrew Davies (now thankfully available to watch on BBC iPlayer again), that at its heart has one of the best TV performances you'll ever see: Paul Dano as Pierre Bezukhov.
While Lily James and James Norton are also highly watchable, especially Norton as the brooding Prince Andrei, it's the irrepressible Dano who lifts this period drama into truly epic territory.
The story opens with Pierre as a bumbling, awkward social outcast who's the illegitimate son of a hugely wealthy count. Prince Andrei, who loves Pierre for his honesty, and Natasha Rostova (Lily James), who has a special place in her heart for Pierre for his kindness, are the only two people who can see there's so much more to the sincere young man.
Naive Pierre is unaware of the plot to con him out of his inheritance by the cunning Prince Vassily (played by with delicious, duplicitous vigor by Stephen Rea), but by a lucky turn, Pierre does find himself as one of the richest men in Russia.
Without ruining the plot, Dano makes you feel Pierre's pain, his bewilderment, his highs, and his lows as his life takes a series of dramatic turns, including being part of the Tsar's army against Napoleon. You're always rooting for him and, most importantly, you truly care what happens to him. There's an incredible depth and richness to Dano's performance. The late great comedian Clive James, a lifelong fan of Tolstoy's work, commented that Dano plays Pierre "with a faultless mastery of the whole range of dithering".
Describing why he wanted to play Pierre, Dano said: "He's just a beautiful, beautiful person and spirit and he's really special. I felt I had a lot to learn from him.
"Initially I was daunted because of what the character requires — he goes on a big journey. He has a lot of high highs and a lot of low lows. He goes through a lot and has to work a lot out. That was daunting to begin with. But once I started, I loved it!"
He more than succeeds in capturing the beauty and spirit of Pierre. Of course, this would be for nothing if the rest of the cast didn’t support his performance but luckily War and Peace is packed with great turns. A special mention must go to Jessie Buckley who plays Prince Andrei's gentle sister Marya, who like Pierre, goes on quite the journey throughout the series.
The cast also includes the wonderful Brian Cox as General Mikhail Kutuzov and the battle scenes in the drama are notable for their grandeur and horror. The whole story whizzes along at terrific speed as Andrew Davies somehow crams the 1,000-plus page book into under seven hours of perfect television.
If you never realized what a great actor Paul Dano is, you will after watching War and Peace.
*See our best BBC dramas piece for more great dramas from the BBC to enjoy. War and Peace is available free on The Roku Channel in the US or with a subscription on Acorn TV.
