Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The Casual Vacancy Blu-ray Movie Review

Not Far Enough from the Madding Crowd

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 31, 2015

Five years after the long-awaited appearance of J.K. Rowling's final Harry Potter book, she published The Casual Vacancy, which might be considered her "second" novel (if one treats the seven Harry Potter novels as one massive tome). As is often the case with second efforts following a huge success, reactions to The Casual Vacancy were mixed, although it instantly shot to the top of the bestseller list on the strength of Rowling's name. Many readers preferred the fantasy world of wizardry to the cesspool of contemporary pettiness and self-interest portrayed in the author's new work. Apparently, during the seventeen years Rowling dwelt at Hogwarts with Harry and his friends, she'd also kept a keen eye on her local environs, which she portrayed with the cheerful savagery that is native to England's literary heritage. In Rowling's tale of English country life, no one escaped her acid scrutiny. Even the good people, of which there were precious few, were beaten back by misdeeds, either their own or those of others.

In partnership with HBO, the BBC adapted The Casual Vacancy into a three-part miniseries, which aired in the U.K. beginning on February 15, 2015, and in the U.S. beginning on April 29. The scripts were written by Rowling and Sarah Phelps, whose long experience as a writer on the BBC's prime-time soap, Eastenders, made her an ideal candidate for wrangling the novel's multiple plot lines into a coherent dramatic narrative. As so often happens with a complex narrative, characters and subplots had to be excised, and key elements were changed for the sake of clarity and, in some cases, to surprise viewers who had read the novel and thought they knew what to expect.

Warner, which owns HBO, has released The Casual Vacancy on Blu-ray.

The story is set in the picturesque (and fictional) country town of Pagford, which is surrounded by beautiful green fields and has cobbled streets, a market square, a historic abbey and other tourist-worthy sites. But Pagford is not exempt from the ills of modernity. It has gangs of unruly and disaffected youth, many of whom live in the "council flats" (or what Americans would call "public housing") in the area known as "the Fields", which are hotbeds of poverty, crime and drug addiction. The Fields are of great concern to one of Pagford's leading citizens, Howard Mollison (Michael Gambon), head of the local parish council, and his wife, Shirley (Julie McKenzie), who are both old-fashioned snobs in that cheerfully polite fashion that is uniquely British.

The engine driving the plot is a land dispute, specifically a battle over the fate of a grand old country house. Some 150 years ago, a member of the nobility, Lord Sweetlove, donated the property to Pagford for the common use of the people. Today it is used as a community center serving the inhabitants of the nearby Fields. Its facilities include a methadone clinic, food co-op and other essential services. The current Lord and Lady Sweetlove (Julian Wadham and Emilia Fox) have asked the Pagford council to return the property to them so that it can be converted into a fancy day spa for well-heeled tourists. They need the revenue, you see, because their ancestral manor is just so expensive to maintain. Howard Mollison, who is ever so obsequious when nobility beckons, is only too happy to oblige. Besides, he is delighted at the prospect of upgrading Pagford's image. Let the inhabitants of the Fields take the bus to facilities in the neighboring town of Yarvil.

But despite bullying and cajoling his fellow council members, Howard loses the vote because of a last minute rally led by firebrand Barry Fairbrother (Rory Kinnear), whose last name is well-deserved. A forty-something attorney who grew up in the Fields and worked his way to a better life, Barry genuinely believes in "giving something back", to the point where his long-suffering wife, Mary (Emily Bevan), feels neglected, because Barry is always running off to perform good deeds. Mary is especially jealous of Barry's solicitude for Terri Weedon (Keeley Forsyth), a hopeless junkie who never made it out of the Fields and whom Barry has helped get clean time and time again, only to see her relapse, leaving her teenage daughter, Krystal (Abigail Lawrie) and young son, Robbie (Bryce Sanders), to fend for themselves.

Mary Fairbrother's worst fears for her husband are realized when he drops dead of an aneurysm shortly after defeating Howard Mollison's attempt to close the community center. The event is foreshadowed early in the first episode, when Barry collapses just after arising in the morning. It is Barry's death that creates what is technically known as a "casual vacancy" on the parish council. Even as Howard and Shirley Mollison deliver their condolences, they can barely contain their glee. They plan to fill Barry's spot with a stooge who will do their bidding. The obvious choice is their son, Miles (Rufus Jones). (In a change from the book, Miles has been made into Barry's law partner.)

Miles is an utter milquetoast, who is powerless to resist his parents' will and nearly speechless in their presence. His wife, Samantha (Keeley Hawes), is furious that her husband is once again doing his father's bidding and frustrated (in more ways than one) at having her life run by her in-laws. As it turns out, though, Miles is not running unopposed. Two other candidates have stepped forward.

The first is Colin "Cubby" Wall (Simon McBurney), the deputy headteacher (roughly equivalent to assistant principal) of the local high school. His wife, Tess (Monica Dolan), was one of Barry Fairbrother's staunch allies on the council, but she isn't sure her husband is up to the task of running for election. He's shy, awkward and doesn't function well under pressure. Also, their son Stuart, a/k/a "Fats" (Brian Vernel), may be a liability, because he's obnoxious and a discipline problem—and Pagford is a small town.

The second challenger is Barry's half-brother, Simon Price (Richard Glover), who hopes to capitalize on the blood relationship to win votes. It's all he has going for him, since otherwise Simon is nothing like Barry. He has a working class chip on his shoulder the size of a tree, bullies his wife (Marie Critchley) and two sons mercilessly, and wants the council seat primarily to extract bribes. His older son, Andrew, a/k/a "Arf" (Joe Hurst), has it especially rough at home, because he is shy, unathletic and has bad acne.

As soon as the three candidates have declared themselves, however, something odd happens. Someone hacks the parish council's website and begins posting as "The Ghost of Barry Fairbrother", although the tone is unlike anything Barry might have said in life. The posts are scathing indictments of all three contenders. Often they say things that everyone knows but politely ignores, but some of the information is new and devastatingly accurate. One candidate is destroyed, the other two are badly embarrassed, and the entire election takes on the outward character of what it really is: a blood sport.

One other Pagford family plays a key role in the story. Each of the three episodes opens with Dr. Vikram Jawanda (Silas Carson) on his morning run. (If you begin to suspect that this repetition is meaningful, you are on the right track.) A successful plastic surgeon whose work is disdained by his wife, Dr. Parminder Jawanda (Lolita Chakrabarti), Vikram refuses to dirty his hands with local politics; he represents those citizens (perhaps a majority) whose disillusionment with the whole mess allows scoundrels like Howard Mollison to get their way. Parminder, by contrast, is the local G.P., and she cannot resist feeling involved with the lives of her patients. An ally of Barry Fairbrother in the fight to save the community center, she becomes so enraged during the course of the election that she inadvertently blurts out details of a patient's confidential medical file during a heated exchange and finds herself the subject of a professional ethics inquiry (thereby appearing to vindicate her husband's view that it's best just to stay out of these things). Meanwhile, their teenage daughter, Sukhvinder (Ria Choony), spends the entire three episodes buried under her headphones. You can just tell, though, that at some point she will remove them to say something crucial.

The emotional core of The Casual Vacancy is young Krystal Weedon, whose tough armor of heavy makeup and sexy outfits masks the pain and sorrow of having to be mother to both her little brother and her drug-addicted mom. The loss of Barry Fairbrother hits Krystal especially hard, because he was the closest thing she had to a father (and without asking for anything sleazy in return, unlike her mother's dealers and other male "friends"). It is through Krystal's eyes that Rowling shows us the very real difference that a few basic services can make in the lives of the poor and disadvantaged. It is also through Krystal that Rowling demonstrates the additional challenges faced by a young woman who, even though she may be intelligent, makes poor choices because she is desperate for even the slightest hint of approval or affection. It leaves her especially vulnerable to an unscrupulous bundle of raging hormones like Fats.

The Casual Vacancy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Casual Vacancy was shot digitally by Tony Slater Ling, who has extensive TV credits. Although specific information about the shooting format wasn't available, the production probably used the Arri Alexa, since that is the digital camera of choice for British TV. Post-production was completed on a digital intermediate, from which Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced by a direct digital path. As is becoming more common for TV productions aiming for a more cinematic style, the image has been formatted at 2.39:1.

The cinematography and production design of The Casual Vacancy showcase the appealing and gentle colors of country life (the outdoor greens are especially inviting) and the warm earth tones of Pagford's antique structures (the town was "constructed" out of several locations), all of which serves as a kind of ironic commentary on the poor behavior of the characters. The interiors of various characters' homes reflect their lives and personalities, with the florid reds and pinks of Samantha Mollison's decor (an extension of her failing lingerie shop) at one extreme and the run-down Whedon household in the Fields at the other. Blacks are solid throughout; the funeral sequence is a good demonstration.

DP Ling and Director Jonny Campbell appear to have opted for lenses (possibly anamorphic) that soften any digital harshness, and they tend to frame shots so that not everyone remains in tight focus. Still, as demonstrated by the sores on Terri Whedon's addiction-damaged face, Arf's teenage acne and several other moments designed to make the viewer blanch, the image is quite detailed. Look around any office or dwelling, and you can easily make out the full extent the production design.

Warner has mastered the three episodes of The Casual Vacancy, each of which runs just over an hour, with an average bitrate of 14.95 Mbps, which is somewhat low, even for a digitally originated production, but the compression appears to have been performed with care (no doubt the black letterbox bars were a benefit).

The Casual Vacancy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Casual Vacancy's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, is serviceable but not showy. Sounds of village life and the bucolic environment are subtly layered into the environment, but the series is not a surround demo. Dialogue is clear and centered, and the musical score by the band Solomon Grey is alternately soothing and sardonic.

The Casual Vacancy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• An Introduction to The Casual Vacancy (1080p; 1.78:1; 8:33): Director Jonny Campbell, screenwriter Sarah Phelps, producer Ruth Kenley-Letts and members of the cast discuss the story and its themes.



• Adapting The Casual Vacancy (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:49): Executive producer Paul Trijbits joins Campbell, Phelps and Kenley-Letts in discussing the challenges of reshaping Rowling's novel for the screen.



• Casting The Casual Vacancy (1080p; 1.78:1; 13:31): Although much of this featurette repeats interview clips from the previous two, there is some original material in the latter half, including interview clips with Joe Hurst ("Arf"), Brian Vernel ("Fats") and Simona Brawn ("Gaia").

The Casual Vacancy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Throughout the featurettes in the extras, interview subjects note the universality of the conflicts explored in Rowling's novel and this adaptation. They're right, but one of the recurring paradoxes of literature and drama is that universality is best achieved by stories about specific people, places and events. The Casual Vacancy is a thoroughly British tale in both style and substance, and if that isn't your cup of Earl Grey, then this isn't the miniseries for you. The same holds true if your taste runs to Downton Abbey-style costume drama set safely in the past. To borrow a title from another English novelist, The Casual Vacancy is a frank assessment of "the way we live now" by an author who doesn't like what she sees. Warner's disc is a solid presentation and is recommended.