Period Dramas: Fall/Winter 2023-24
By Heather Bolen
There are oodles of period dramas coming this fall and winter. Here are a handful!
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY
Cast: Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman, Aja Naomi King
In the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott's dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong in the domestic sphere; she accepts a job on a TV cooking show and sets out to teach a nation of housewives way more than recipes.
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
“Lessons in Chemistry” is a joy to watch, an escape with a clear-cut and righteous perspective. With Larson leading the way, the show challenges us to rise to our best possible selves, even as it presents a simplified view of the challenges women of all races encounter..”
Streaming now on Apple TV+ (released Oct 13)
All the light we cannot see
Cast: Louis Hofmann, Lars Eidinger, Marion Bailey, Hugh Laurie, Mark Ruffalo, Aria Mia Loberti
The story of Marie-Laure, a blind French teenager, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Anthony Doerr.
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 33%
“Netflix’s All the Light We Cannot See transforms a Pulitzer-winning novel into a schmaltzy, incoherent mess”
Streaming now on Netflix (released Nov 2)
Kristine Frøseth, Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Aubri Ibrag, Imogen Waterhouse, Mia Threapleton, Christina Hendricks, Josh Dylan
Based on the unfinished novel of the same name by American novelist Edith Wharton, the series is about the arrival of a group of American women into 1870s London society, who have been sent to secure husbands and titles, resulting in an Anglo-American culture clash.
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
‘The Buccaneers’ is a frenzied, feminist and bold reimagining of London’s 19th century marriage market.”
Premiers November 8 on Apple TV+
Julia (Season 2)
Cast: Sarah Lancashire, David Hyde Pierce, Bebe Neuwirth
Inspired by Julia Child's extraordinary life and her show The French Chef, which essentially invented food television.
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93% (Season 1)
“The official trailer [Season 2] just dropped and it’s an absolute delight…It's giving Emily in Paris meets Marvelous Mrs. Maisel vibes.”
Premiers November 16 on HBO Max
Napoleon
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby
The film takes a personal look at Napoleon Bonaparte's origins, and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor viewed through the prism of his addictive, and often volatile, relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine.
No reviews yet.
In movie theaters on Thanksgiving
Firebrand
Cast: Jude Law, Alicia Vikander
In blood-soaked Tudor England, Katherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, is named Regent while tyrant Henry is fighting overseas. Katherine has done everything she can to push for a new future based on her radical Protestant beliefs. When an increasingly ailing and paranoid King returns, he turns his fury on the radicals, charging Katherine's childhood friend with treason and burns her at the stake. Horrified and grieving, but forced to deny it, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53%
“Despite stellar performances and an intriguingly unknown central concept for the story, this historical drama, directed by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, fails to dazzle as expected.”
In movie theaters December 22, 2023
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans
Cast: Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, Treat Williams, Chris Chalk, Chloe Sevigny, Demi Moore, Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart, Molly Ringwald
The second season of Feud is based on the real-life drama between Truman Capote and his “swans”—a group made up of fabulous midcentury New York society women who the writer eventually betrayed by publishing their secrets in a scandalous short story.
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95% (Season 1)
Premiers Winter 2023 on FX
