The Pursuit of Love

The insistent intertwining of the pain with the laughter, instead of flattening the tale into a Wodehouse-with-women yarn, makes this adaptation feel like a classic in its own right. It is a treat for all.

Each episode was a joy and a pleasure to watch – and when it comes to Sunday night TV, you can’t ask for more than that.

Without sacrificing humor or social commentary, Mortimer thrillingly modernizes The Pursuit of Love by ratcheting up the romance in unexpected ways. ... This new lens hardly detracts from Linda’s magnificent saga. In fact, viewing her through Fanny’s adoring eyes only enhances its colors.

James relaxes more into her role than she did on her last outing, as a lovestruck archaeologist in The Dig. Fox has a ball in a part he was born to play. ... This adaptation, for all its technical proficiency, crisp one-liners and confident performances, sometimes feels a little chilly.

Though both of the heroines of “Pursuit” are constrained by the gender expectations of their era, Mortimer and company make judicious feminist points from today’s perspective. For the most part they do so without hitting the nail so squarely it breaks the period atmosphere — which is exquisite, by the way.

Does “The Pursuit of Love” say anything particularly insightful about womanhood, or about middle-century femininity as domestic ennui, or about the relationship between the arts and self-fulfillment? It hints at these ideas without digging in thoroughly or meaningfully, and its ending is infuriatingly punishing. But the miniseries’ breezy pace, likeable ensemble, and low-key twee style make “The Pursuit of Love” easy to fall into, even with the sense that its satire could have been spikier.

Mortimer generally follows the novel’s plot and incorporates a lot of its words directly into Fanny’s narration, and her “Pursuit of Love” is better the closer it sticks to the book. Unfortunately, when she strays from it, expanding on Mitford’s story, she has mostly bad ideas.