Marie Curie Online

This, as I recall, was a pretty daring new look at the life and times of Marya (Marie) Sklodovska Curie, particularly at the sad and scandalous early years of her long widowhood. It appears the lonely, needy Marie had an affair, or almost had one, with a fellow scientist and admirer who ended up staying in his rocky marriage. In any case, their letters were leaked to the press by his wife and/or their scientific rivals, and Marie was nearly driven from the respected position she had achieved.

This was all glossed over by her admiring daughter Eve in the otherwise excellent biogaphy she wrote about her mother... In part due to natural loyalty, and the fact that Eve was still a young child by the time these events had played out. By the time Eve was in her teens, Marie was once again restored to a condition of esteem (and, apparently, celibacy) which she retained until the end.

I'd like to see this again, one DVD if it's out there, as I recall the good and convincing performance by Jean Lapotaire, who appeared in numerous English historical minseries back then, which were later shown on US educational TV. (Where we "high-brows" sought edgy entertainment before everyone had HBO and Showtime.)

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I *am* old enough to have seen the original mini-series (on American public television). It was a beautifully crafted series that was both reasonably accurate AND thoroughly captivating. Marie Curie was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, and it's somewhat scandalous that her life and work has been so seldom described. There should be a clamor from many groups of scientists and scholars, men and women alike, to bring this wonderful mini-series out on DVD. It is a story that the general public needs to see and digest. I hope that enough people can persuade the BBC to release it themselves, or failing that to give the rights to some other entity that would make it available once again.

This five hour miniseries about the woman who has been called the greatest scientist in the twentieth century by some looks to have the makings of a great DVD. I did not see this in 1977 when it originally aired but am giving it 10 stars on the assumption that the production was given a lot of thought based on the actors and actresses involved and that it was a BBC production. Marie Curie was born in 1867 in Poland, immigrated to France at the age of 24, married, had two children and is one of only two people to ever win Nobel prizes in two different fields. If this miniseries captures something of her life it will make a wonderful DVD.