The Miniaturist - General Discussion

[proserpina65]

6 hours ago, LiveenLetLive said:

I mean oh please, ultimately the "message" was grrrl power comes to Delft or wherever it was set, LOL--what rubbish IMO.

Amsterdam - didn't you hear how many times creepy head judge declared that Johannes had committed crimes against that city?

And that judge seemed really determined to hear all the nasty details - makes me wonder about him.

 

I was underwhelmed, to say the least.  I wanted there to be more to the miniaturist, more to Marin's story, just more.

I will say that, while Johannes' speech was way too modern, as most of you have pointed out, at least they didn't do some kind of deus ex machina rescue of him.

2 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

So, were they allowed to sell/bake goodies or not?

It's my understanding from what I've read, as long as the cookies and such weren't shaped in human form, they were frowned upon but not actually illegal.  I don't claim to be an expert, though.

[JudyObscure]

Otto sure did get over Marin's death in a hurry, didn't he? 

[benteen]

55 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Amsterdam - didn't you hear how many times creepy head judge declared that Johannes had committed crimes against that city?

And that judge seemed really determined to hear all the nasty details - makes me wonder about him.

He REALLY seemed like he was into it.  Like it was a release for him to talk like this.

[proserpina65]

34 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Otto sure did get over Marin's death in a hurry, didn't he? 

Well, he does have a baby to worry about, so I'll be generous and assume he'll do his mourning in private.  These people really didn't express emotions in front of others, did they?  Probably one of the few things which had more of the correct historical sensibility, but probably coincidental due to bad writing than a deliberate choice.

[LiveenLetLive]

6 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

So.  Marin didn't marry the man she loved because she didn't want to give up control of the "household".  Really, Marin, those two servants and all that huge, dark, nightmarish furniture?  We're not talking Downton Abbey, bossing around the people at the sugar house couldn't have been that fabulous, either. 

Johannes couldn't be even a tiny bit discreet like all the homosexual men of his time, the "confirmed bachelors" who had gentleman friends in for 'cards," several nights a week.  No, he simply has to have sex up against the wall in the street and in public warehouses.  Then he makes a speech in court  contemporary words about how he simply can't deny who he is, so that they're pretty much forced to uphold the law and drown him.  He did a rotten thing to Nella, basically saying that she had to live a life without sex or romantic love so that he could have those things.  I had no sympathy for him.  I know a  platonic couple who have had a long happy marriage, but they both went into the situation with their eyes wide open, neither person wanted a sexual relationship with anyone.  Johannes just expected people to sacrifice themselves for him. 

Marin and Otto, just out of the blue with no foreshadowing?

I don't have any opinion about Nella because I could only understand about one quarter of what she said.  I hope never to see the actress or her poor tortured breasts again.

This was not a masterpiece in any sense of the word but a heavy handed  public service announcement with really great production values.

I wish I could love your post twice. BTW, I might point out that the action takes place over 4 MONTHS, so Nella goes from naive country girl who one would assume had no idea what homosexual meant to loving helpmate of the asshole who married her to be his beard and then couldn't do at least his duty that most men in that situation would--father an heir and be done with it, I have known gay men who you would not believe could ever have sex with a woman who did and produced children, the real Johannes would indeed have remained a bachelor or completed the pretense by impregnating his wife. Also who in the hell was the miniaturist and what was her "gift/curse" apparently Barton never came up with the answer in the book and the series couldn't come up with one either!

[Trini]

So the miniaturist turns out to be the least interesting thing about The Miniaturist.

Like others have mentioned, great production values, but the story was not good.

9 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Otto sure did get over Marin's death in a hurry, didn't he? 

A lot of things happened in a hurry -- we just find out that Marin is pregnant, then she has the baby, and dies; not to mention all the other quick resolutions.

And Marin didn't want to get married and give up her "liberty"?? LOL. Unless she had her own inheritance, she would still be under her brother. I mean, I can get that maybe didn't want to be a wife, but if running a household is what she really wanted, marriage was the secure way to do that.

Am I supposed to believe this teen bride is going to be able to handle everything to run that household and her disgraced, dead husband's business? As well as (partially?) raising a mulatto baby born "in sin"? At the end, my main thought was that all these people are screwed.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Trini

[Jordan Baker]

Barrel of laughs, it was.

Not.

[GenieinTX]

That was horribly disappointing, for all the reasons mentioned here.  Ugh!

But here is a post about the gorgeousness of the clothes and sets.  Be sure to click through to the link about the real dollhouse that inspired this:

https://tomandlorenzo.com/2018/09/the-gorgeous-period-costumes-of-the-miniaturist/

Did anyone read the book to tell us if the Miniaturist actually got more time in the book?

Edited September 24, 2018 by GenieinTX

[LiveenLetLive]

2 hours ago, GenieinTX said:

That was horribly disappointing, for all the reasons mentioned here.  Ugh!

But here is a post about the gorgeousness of the clothes and sets.  Be sure to click through to the link about the real dollhouse that inspired this:

https://tomandlorenzo.com/2018/09/the-gorgeous-period-costumes-of-the-miniaturist/

Did anyone read the book to tell us if the Miniaturist actually got more time in the book?

didn't read the book but I do know the answer to your question--->NO, Nella never meets the miniaturist, that scene, lame as it is was invented for the series.

[kassygreene]

I didn't read the book (couldn't get in to it) but I skimmed it.  I didn't watch the show (couldn't get in to it) but I skimmed it.  No miniaturist resolution in the book, just the show.

Apparently the book was in a massive bidding war for publisher (11 publishers vied to publish it!), and it's won prestigious awards.  For me, the book and the series are in the category of mystery, as in it's a mystery to me that it's so freaking popular.  

I had the same reaction thirty years ago to the Clan of the Cave Bear verbiage. 

[LiveenLetLive]

16 hours ago, kassygreene said:

I didn't read the book (couldn't get in to it) but I skimmed it.  I didn't watch the show (couldn't get in to it) but I skimmed it.  No miniaturist resolution in the book, just the show.

Apparently the book was in a massive bidding war for publisher (11 publishers vied to publish it!), and it's won prestigious awards.  For me, the book and the series are in the category of mystery, as in it's a mystery to me that it's so freaking popular.  

I had the same reaction thirty years ago to the Clan of the Cave Bear verbiage. 

The bidding war over this book demonstrates the sad state of fiction at the moment I am afraid---the only meme that Barton was missing was making Cornelia a transsexual, (/snerk)

[LaChavalina]

On 9/24/2018 at 3:50 PM, Trini said:

A lot of things happened in a hurry -- we just find out that Marin is pregnant, then she has the baby, and dies; not to mention all the other quick resolutions.

If anyone has read the book, I'd be curious to know if the third act felt as rushed and disjointed in the book as it did here. Given the book's popularity, Masterpiece could easily have given this four episodes instead of three to promote a little character development. I also found it bizarre that Nella did not tell Johannes that Marin had died, and he didn't question why his beloved sister wasn't visiting him while he was preparing for execution?

Quote

Am I supposed to believe this teen bride is going to be able to handle everything to run that household and her disgraced, dead husband's business? As well as (partially?) raising a mulatto baby born "in sin"? At the end, my main thought was that all these people are screwed.

I presumed that they would pass the child off as the daughter of Otto and that other servant girl. There seemed to be some hint of a triangle between her, Otto, and Marin, but that's another thread left dangling.

The actor who played Otto was the best part about this series, so it's a shame he was missing for much of the story. So much potential for the character, too, given that he recognized something creepy with the miniatures almost from the beginning.

[parrotfeathers]

Someone help me here--so her sitting down at the desk and saying "I think I can do this" (or something like that) is THE END????

I feel cheated.

[Ilovepie]

Wow that was terrible. Really terrible. I am just thankful I never downloaded this book- for a while Amazon was pushing it hard. I was so tempted by the cover art, but now I’m glad I resisted!

Super depressing, and that ending sucked.

[nx74defiant]

Beautiful to look at, really dumb story.

[Trini]

BTW, PBS.org has behind-the-scenes videos about the production and history of miniatures: https://www.pbs.org/show/miniaturist/