At one point during The Aristocrats, the dutiful, devoted, yet rather dim husband of Louisa Lennox cannot find the word to describe the magnificent party they are attending. "Resplendent," his wife offers. That pretty much describes this impeccably mounted BBC miniseries.
Based on the biography by Stella Tillyard, The Aristocrats vividly re-creates "a different world" that would eventually be shattered by rebellion and bloodshed. "The much pampered" Emily Lennox narrates her family's history, as tumultuous as it was charmed. The Lennox sisters, Caroline (Serena Gordon), Emily (Geraldine Somerville, and as an older woman, Sian Phillips), Louisa (Anne-Marie McDuff), and Sarah (Jodhi May), were of royal blood and they mixed with royalty. Part 1 chronicles elder daughter Caroline's "small rebellion" that tears her family apart. Against her father's wishes ("I would sooner let you sell fish in the street," he thunders), she marries for love Henry Fox, a politician who is 20 years older. Caroline is banished from the house and her sisters' lives. Part 2 charts the misfortunes of sister Sarah, who as a child was a favorite of the king and is later courted, but ultimately rejected, by his heir. She becomes "an inconvenient woman," scandalizing her family with her indiscretions. Part 3 makes the last reel of Gone with the Wind look like Singin' in the Rain as bittersweet reunions, sibling rivalries, death, infidelities, and revolution take their tragic toll.

Originally broadcast on Mobil Masterpiece Theatre, The Aristocrats is presented on video in a three-volume set. Anglophiles will find it difficult not to take in all 246 minutes in a single sitting. But the peerless ensemble and rich production ensures rewarding repeat viewings. --Donald Liebenson