It’s difficult to believe that Miles Franklin’s wonderfully lively and rebellious novel My Brilliant Career is 125 years old: its prose crackles with life and energy, and the words leap off the page. Notwithstanding some inevitably dated turns of phrase (though I, for one, feel it’s time to return “what the deuce!” to daily conversations), the book feels like it could have been written yesterday. The story is centred around Sybylla Melvyn, a bullheaded author determined to write her own story – literally and otherwise – in a deeply patriarchal world that would prefer her to settle down, shut up and take a man’s hand in marriage.
Whereas Gillian Armstrong’s 1979 film adaptation is a class act, elegant and stately, Netflix’s new six-part series is, perhaps predictably, steamier and more juiced up, with at times Mills & Boon-ish vibes. There’s more erotica, a wilder tone and a more pronounced love triangle for Sybylla, played by Philippa Northeast. Unfortunately, it’s also a tad syrupy and wishy-washy, particularly towards the end (this review encompasses every episode) – the show even deploys one of those cloying photo album-like montages of key moments: the visual equivalent of Green Day’s Good Riddance.
