Complete with wacky jump-cuts.

Wow, I feel like that character should have been set up with the version of John Forbes Nash that appeared in A Beautiful Mind.

Okay, there must be something I'm missing, but I keep hearing about how people were originally huge fans of Damian Lewis from The Forsyte Saga first, which led them over to Life. After Band of Brothers, I tried checking out TFS and couldn't drag myself through it, even for the DL love. Does his character become more sympathetic, despite the creepiness? I found his character very unattractive (ugly in spirit and therefore looks) in TFS and seeing as the actor was the only reason I rented it.... can someone please esplain this to me? Is there something wonderful that I missed?

Um, I'm pretty sure he's the snottastic villain of the piece, and that's the point.

(All your bohemian Rupert Graves are belong to me.)

that's the point.

the point? the point that he's dreamy and has a huge fangrrrl base because of this character and yet I am totally turned off by it?

He's snotty, and villainous, but not deliciously villainous, right? I can get behind the latter, but I'm guessing my hate (and non-enjoyment) of the character was spot-on and doubtless to improve?

I'm so confused. There are tons of fangrrrls out there who originated with TFS, but how? Snotty? Possessive? Creepy? Controlling? Priggish? Where's the "dreamy/hot/sexy" coming from?

It may be my inability to appreciate a superb performance, the mechanics of the performance, regardless of what is actually being portrayed, i.e. a despicable schmuck. I don't watch for the wonderful acting, I watch for the characters and whether I can invest myself in their journies and care about what happens to them. Bravo if an actor turns in a fine performance, I don't care to watch them if there isn't something I can sympathize with, if I don't like what they're actually performing.

What I'm saying/asking, is, besides DL being a wonderful actor, is there something else about his character that has the wimmen swooning? I only find him physically attractive in certain roles. So, the character, is there something humanizing and sympathetic hidden in his character (underneath the snottastic villainy, perhaps?)

I really do want to understand this, at least more than I do now, before I give TFS another go.

I think I saw DL in Band of Brothers first and then watched The Forsyte Saga.

I saw Lars and the Real Girl last night and loved it. A friend wrote it and the script is tender and subtle and well-crafted, and the performances are first rate. Ryan Gosling and Emily Mortimer are lovely. The fil is slow and quiet and really sneaks up on you--kind of reminds me of My Life as a Dog or Dear Frankie. Go see it!

I absolutely fell in love with Dick Winters but didn't follow up on the actor til I finally saw Dreamcatcher and enjoyed him both as Jonesy and as Ister Gay ("DUDDITS!"), followed that up with Keane, which was impressive, but also uncomfortable for me to watch. Followed that up with TFS, got frustrated maybe twenty minutes in, wasn't digging any of the characters, and shut it off. I've been leery of checking out anything else he's done, but now I've got my eye on The Baker (!!!) and The Situation.

the point that he's dreamy and has a huge fangrrrl base because of this character and yet I am totally turned off by it?

Yikes. I loved Lewis's performance in TFS but seriously. Soames is clearly portrayed as a controlling monster for most of the series. I loved watching him, because Lewis made his monstrosity compelling to watch and there were plenty of other sympathetic characters around in the series to balance off his villainy. However, near the end of the series -- NOT the first series, but the second one that deals with the offsprings -- Soames does get some perspectives into his own wrongdoing. It doesn't excuse him for his early behavior, not at all, but because the character has been so damn rigid, that small amount of thawing feels like a sea change. Lewis is... well, rather magnficent in those scenes. I'd thought Soames despicable through and through, yet still found myself quite moved, despite myself.

... but clearly, if there are people who consider someone like Soames Forsyte as romantic and dreamy, they are seriously messed in the head.

I doubt seriously that people who like the actor actually could find it in their hearts to like the (not-awesomely) villainous character he portrays. (Unless, as noted, they are craxxy.) But I know plenty of people who would watch actors they like in stupid or venal or even badly-written roles, just because they like the actor.

(*cough* Plei *cough*)

The thing I liked about Soames Forsyte was that he always looked like he was wearing a girdle under his clothes. Not in a bent way, but in a way that the character's uptight and unbendy personality showed through in his posture and bearing.