Save this story Save Story Save this story Sumptuous costume dramas can provide a much-needed escape in troubling times, but if you’re tired of the usual assortment of airless parlors, manicured lawns, and straight-laced suitors, there is an alternative: a subset of recent films and series that play with our expectations of the genre. Combining post-punk soundtracks with cross-dressing, lobster racing, color-blind casting, and illicit love affairs, they allow us to view history through a new lens and feel surprisingly modern as a result. See our favorites below.
Photo: ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection For those already familiar with Ang Lee’s exquisite take on the same novel, you’ll likely already be thinking about this rain-soaked, heart-rending 1995 adaptation as you watch the latest retelling – you’ll picture Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood, anguished at the rejection of Greg Wise’s Willoughby, as Esmé Creed-Miles and Frank Dillane act out the same scene; or Emma Thompson as the older sister, Elinor, unable to express her true feelings to Hugh Grant’s Edward Ferrars, as Edgar-Jones and George MacKay take centre stage. If you, for some reason, haven’t seen it, though, I urge you to correct that right away. The supporting cast is ridiculously stacked – Harriet Walter as the horrible Fanny Dashwood, Hugh Laurie as the disinterested Mr Palmer, Alan Rickman as the brooding Colonel Brandon – and the script so sparkling that it earned Thompson a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. It’s less earthy and elemental than the new Sense and Sensibility , to be sure, but remains an unassailable classic in its own right.
Photo: Pari Dukovic Photography This installment of Ryan Murphy’s Feud anthology series (the first season, released in 2017, centered on the legendary rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, as depicted by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange) covers the scandalous true story of how Truman Capote (a flamboyant Tom Hollander) fell out with his coterie of New York City socialites, dubbed his “swans.” With its swoon-worthy ’70s fashion, salacious sex scenes, and a cast that is truly jaw-dropping—Naomi Watts as the regal Babe Paley, Chloë Sevigny as fashion icon C. Z. Guest, Diane Lane as the elegant Slim Keith, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson (wife of Johnny), and Demi Moore as the disgraced former showgirl Ann Woodward—it’s about as juicy and evocative as can be.
Photo: Courtesy Apple TV+ This equally glossy 10-part Apple TV series centers on Christian Dior, here played by a grizzled Ben Mendelsohn, as he popularizes the wasp-waisted, full-skirted “new look,” a symbol of Parisian glamour and optimism in the wake of World War II. His rise to prominence, however, poses a threat to his contemporaries: Cristóbal Balenciaga, Pierre Balmain, and, most significantly, Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche), whose previously undisputed status as the most influential couturier in the world was then coming into question. Cue a ruthless battle, featuring a host of other familiar faces, too, from Glenn Close in the part of Carmel Snow, the legendary editor of Harper’s Bazaar , to John Malkovich as designer Lucien Lelong, and Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, the designer’s sister, a French Resistance fighter who was awarded the Legion of Honour and remained a lifelong muse.
Photo: Alex Bailey/Netflix Peter Morgan’s lavishly rendered, decades-spanning account of Queen Elizabeth II’s tumultuous marriage and reign is arguably still the best period drama on the platform. Yes, the final seasons were somewhat patchy , but the first two are almost flawless, spearheaded by a stoic Claire Foy alongside Matt Smith’s mercurial Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby’s devastatingly glamorous Princess Margaret. However, even when they pass the baton to the likes of the supremely talented Olivia Colman, Josh O’Connor , Emma Corrin, and Elizabeth Debicki in subsequent installments, there are countless joys to be found in the intricacies of the performances, the jaw-dropping locations, the epic set pieces recreated from history, and the meticulously detailed costumes, all the way from the former monarch’s wedding gown to Princess Diana’s unforgettable revenge dress .
Photo: Barbara Nitke/HBO Though it doesn’t feature any overlapping characters, you can think of Julian Fellowes’ The Gilded Age as a sort of American prequel to the acclaimed series Downton Abbey. Centered around the drama of New York City’s elite during the 1880s—and the rapidly changing social and economic landscape of the post-Civil War era—the show serves up plenty of glamour, grandeur, and guilty pleasure. Not to mention some very enticing historically inspired tidbits , including a quintessential old-money-versus-new-money feud between nouveau-riche Mrs. Bertha Russell (played by Carrie Coon ), the wife of a railroad tycoon, and grande dame of the city’s upper crust Mrs. Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (played by Donna Murphy). You’ll never look at Manhattan’s landmarks the same way again.
Photo: Phil Bray/Netflix Scott Frank and Allan Scott’s dark, sultry, ’50s and ’60s-set drama charting the unlikely rise of an orphan chess prodigy (an utterly captivating Anya Taylor-Joy) was a stealthy surprise, arriving on Netflix with little to no fanfare and promptly becoming a mega hit that sent the sale of chess sets rocketing. It opens with our heroine, the troubled Beth Harmon, learning the game from her orphanage’s custodian and quickly surpassing him, all the while developing an addiction to tranquillizers. Cue tense tournaments, flirtations with fellow champions played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Harry Melling, and crippling substance abuse as she climbs to the top of her field. All the while, she’s impeccably dressed in looks that pay tribute to her craft: shifts with graphic geometric prints, checked Courrèges coats, and a final, all-white ensemble that symbolizes her transformation into the queen of the proverbial chessboard.
Photo: Dean Rogers You can rely on Armando Iannucci to breathe new life into Charles Dickens’s sprawling bildungsroman. In the hands of the endlessly inventive comedian, the tale of a boy who pulls himself up by his bootstraps and seeks out fame and fortune becomes a madcap delight complete with a zingy script, cartoonish punch-ups, collapsing sets, and a heady dose of magical realism. Dev Patel is the dashing lead, supported by Peter Capaldi as a top-hatted menace and Tilda Swinton as an eccentric landowner who kicks trespassers off their donkeys.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection Snarky retorts, fleeting male nudity, and a proposal scene cut short by an unexpected nosebleed are just some of the elements that set Autumn de Wilde’s Regency romp apart from the average Jane Austen adaptation. Anya Taylor-Joy sizzles as the matchmaker at its center, who is determined to find an eligible bachelor for a new friend (Mia Goth). The suitors—Johnny Flynn, Josh O’Connor , Callum Turner —are sultry, the pastel-hued interiors delectable, and the costumes ostentatious.
Photo: Shutterstock Female ambition is at the core of Greta Gerwig’s retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic. Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, and Eliza Scanlen are charming as the March sisters, freewheeling teenagers who put on plays, form a secret society, and develop a keen understanding of the relationship between art and commerce in mid-19th-century America. As they chase their dreams in New York, Paris, and at home in Concord, Massachusetts, they also challenge the limits imposed on the women of their era.
Photo: Courtesy MK2 Films An instant queer classic. Céline Sciamma’s sweeping 2019 tale of an 18th-century painter (Noémie Merlant) who falls for the convent girl—and soon-to-be wife of a Milanese nobleman (Adèle Haenel)—she has been commissioned to draw is, naturally, full of unforgettable images: the beaches, coves, and crashing waves of the remote island in Brittany where this love story unfolds; the two women in bed closely observing one another; and the vision of flames on the edges of a billowing skirt that gives this masterful period piece its title.
Photo: Shutterstock The 18th-century court of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) provides the setting for Yorgos Lanthimos’s absurdist black comedy about power struggles and palace intrigue. Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone are delicious as the two ruthless favorites of the monarch, who try to outmaneuver each other at all costs. Their days are taken up with shooting practice, lobster racing, pelting men with fruit, and slipping poison into unattended cups of tea—and best of all, there isn’t a damsel in distress in sight.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection In his final role to date, Daniel Day-Lewis plays the delightfully named Reynolds Woodcock, a mercurial couturier (loosely based on Charles James) in 1950s London who makes a young waitress (Vicky Krieps, in her breakout role) his muse. It garnered six Oscar nominations, including for best picture, director (for Paul Thomas Anderson), actor, supporting actress (for Lesley Manville as Reynolds’s withering sister, Cyril), and score (by Jonny Greenwood), and won for Mark Bridges’s luxurious costume design.
Photo: Shutterstock Jane Austen’s acerbic wit takes center stage in Whit Stillman’s social satire based on her epistolary novel Lady Susan . It stars Kate Beckinsale as a charismatic widow desperate to secure her future, and that of her young daughter (Morfydd Clark), by marriage. She travels from the home of one wealthy friend to another, decked out in plumed hats and silk capes, enchanting everyone she meets and plotting her next move. Expect big laughs, surprise cameos, and a scandalous final twist.
Photo: Shutterstock It’s impossible to take your eyes off Florence Pugh in William Oldroyd’s steely, rather Hitchcockian thriller set in 19th-century Northumberland. She plays a teenager who is married off to a tyrannical older man (Paul Hilton) and forbidden from leaving their estate. When he has to travel on business, she gets a taste of freedom, falls for a rugged groomsman (Cosmo Jarvis), and decides to take control of her life. The performances are haunting, the set decoration pristine, and the tension ever-intensifying.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s seminal 1952 novel The Price of Salt , Todd Haynes’s masterpiece, set in 1950s New York, tells the story of a glamorous married woman (Cate Blanchett) and an aspiring photographer (Rooney Mara) who embark on a forbidden and passionate romance that changes their lives. It received six Oscar nominations, including for Carter Burwell’s score and Sandy Powell’s costumes.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection Written and created by Julian Fellowes—who also wrote Gosford Park and The Gilded Age , among other period classics—this acclaimed 52-episode, six season British series might just be one of the best period dramas ever made: It won several Emmy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and was nominated for numerous Golden Globes over the course of its five-year run. With (mostly) fine-toothed historical accuracy, it follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants as the navigate the sinking of the Titanic, World War I, the Spanish flu, and the Irish War of Independence—as well as their own personal trials and triumphs.
Though the series, which premiered on PBS in the United States in 2010, ended its television run in 2015, fans dusted off their coats, tails, and evening gowns for a film adaptation some four years after the show’s finale—and then once more for a second film in 2022. Also written by series creator Fellowes, the first film continues the show’s plot, with much of the original cast intact, depicting a 1927 royal visit to the titular mansion; while the second film sees the Crawleys venture to the south of France. In 2025, yet another film is set to come out, again featuring most of the show’s actors—though sadly not the late, great Maggie Smith, so indelible as the inimitable Lady Violet.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection A remarkable true story forms the basis of Amma Asante’s swoon-worthy romance. It sees Gugu Mbatha-Raw play Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain. Born into slavery in the 18th century, she becomes an heiress who attracts her fair share of suitors, until an idealistic lawyer (Sam Reid) catches her eye. Their relationship marks Dido’s political awakening, as she considers her position in society against the people of color who are still treated as property.
Photo: Shutterstock The opening shots of the new Sense and Sensibility —in which Marianne lays in the long grass, lost in thought—seem to nod to the lyrical, quietly observant work of Andrea Arnold, specifically her 2011 version of Emily Brontë’s blustery tragedy. It is about as far from Emerald Fennel’s Day-Glo interpretation of the book as it’s possible to get, casting Kaya Scodelario as the conflicted Catherine Earnshaw and James Howson as the steely Heathcliff, the latter the first Black actor to play the Byronic anti-hero on the big screen. There’s a stark rawness and brutality to their turbulent lives, but immense beauty, too, in the misty moors and a lifelong connection that can’t even be severed by death.
Photo: Everett Collection Based on Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel, Joe Wright’s sensuous, sweeping drama, mainly set around World War II, follows two young lovers (Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) who are kept apart by a lie told by her jealous younger sister (Saoirse Ronan) and its far-reaching consequences. It was nominated for seven Oscars, including picture, art direction, and costume, and won for Dario Marianelli’s score—but many will remember most Knightley’s ravishing green silk dress in a pivotal scene.
Photo: Shutterstock With shopping montages set to 1980s pop, salacious masked balls, and midnight wanders through Versailles, Sofia Coppola’s account of the doomed French queen’s reign is gleefully subversive. As embodied by a fresh-faced Kirsten Dunst, she is an exuberant teenager who seeks solace from her loveless marriage in reckless hedonism. From the candy-colored Manolo Blahniks to her ruffled silk ballgowns, the film is a visual feast that lets you revel in the pleasures of centuries past.
Photo: © Focus Films / Courtesy Everett Collection Unlike Dakota Johnson’s heightened, Fleabag -esque Persuasion or Anya Taylor-Joy’s frothy, ice cream-hued Emma , this is a looser, more naturalistic take on the literary classic, with a string of wonderful performances: Keira Knightley as a sharp-tongued Elizabeth Bennet, Matthew Macfadyen as a frosty Mr. Darcy, Rosamund Pike as a luminous Jane, Kelly Reilly as an imperious Caroline Bingley, Tom Hollander as an almost tragic Mr. Collins, Judi Dench as a terrifying Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Rupert Friend as an irresistible Wickham, and Brenda Blethyn as the hilariously desperate Mrs. Bennet. Add the intricate costumes, lush landscapes, tinkling piano, and simmering sexual tension, and you have a ravishing romance that is simply a delight from start to finish.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection A murder occurs during a relaxing weekend at a hunting estate; each person in the pretentious group gathered becomes a suspect. With an Oscar-winning original screenplay by Julian Fellowes (who would later create Downton Abbey ) and directed by the legendary Robert Altman, the 1930s-set film features a powerhouse ensemble cast, including Richard E. Grant, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Maggie Smith, and Kristin Scott Thomas and was nominated for seven Oscars, including art direction and costume design.
Photo: ©Miramax / Courtesy Everett Collection In Wong Kar-wai’s slow-burn classic about loss and desire, two lonely neighbors in 1960s Hong Kong (a stunning Maggie Cheung and a smoldering Tony Leung) eventually develop a star-crossed love. It consistently appears on rankings of the best films of all time; Sofia Coppola acknowledged it as the primary inspiration behind Lost in Translation , thanking Wong in her Oscar acceptance speech, and directors The Daniels also cited it as an influence on Everything Everywhere All at Once .
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Source: Lifestyle
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