Top 5 Films Related to the Mitford Sisters

The Mitford sisters were a group of real-life aristocratic British sisters who were very well known in the 1930s and 1940s for their beauty, style, and tabloid-followed lives: Nancy was a novelist/biographer and socialite; Diana was a socialite and fascist; Unity became a devotee of Hitler; Jessica moved to the US where she became an author and communist; and Deborah became the 10th Duchess of Devonshire. I recently went on a binge rereading Nancy Mitford’s novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate (both HIGHLY recommended reading! although the first is the best). Although both were published in the mid- to late-1940s, they’re set in the 1920s-30s and are fictionalized accounts of Mitford’s own life. And then I saw there’s a Mitford bio-series in the works! So, Mitfords everywhere! I thought it would be interesting to pull together five films/TV series that will give you a glimpse into these quite interesting real life people.

Bright Young Things (2003)

This film is an adaptation of the novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, and is a satirical look at the “Bright Young Things,” the young, fashion-forward, and Bohemian set in 1930s London, which included Diana and Nancy. Waugh modeled the character Agatha (played by Fenella Woolgar) on Diana, although he later felt it had turned into more of a parody than an accurate representation. It’s not a happy film, but if you want to get a sense of London’s “lost generation” and the party scene Diana and Nancy played in, this is it.

White Mischief (1987)

This film — of which we’ll have a full review very soon — dramatizes a real-life scandal that took place amongst colonialist Brits in Kenya. In 1941, the young and beautiful Diana Caldwell (Greta Scacchi) marries a much older man and moves with him to Kenya’s “Happy Valley” area, where they encounter a group of expats who were notorious for drug use and sleeping with EVERYONE. There, she falls in love with a playboy — Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll (Charles Dance). And things get complicated.

So what’s the Mitford tie-in? The real-life inspiration (Idina Sackville) for Nancy Mitford’s “Bolter” character — a woman who ditched so many marriages and relationships that she was known by that nickname — in her novels shows up as a minor character.

The Pursuit of Love (2021)

One can’t discuss the Mitford sisters without mentioning that there have been several adaptations of Nancy’s semi-autobiographical novels! The Pursuit of Love — both the novel and this adaptation — are a fictionalized take on the Mitfords’ SUPER crazy childhoods, with an eccentric father and a group of siblings/relatives who create their own world. The story continues as everyone grows up, with narrator Fanny observing the glamorous and love-obsessed Linda (Lily James) falling in love again and again.

Love in a Cold Climate (2001)

This is an earlier adaptation of Mitford’s novels, and it combines The Pursuit of Love with its sequel, Love in a Cold Climate — and it feels like a much more accurate take on the novels, the Mitfords, and the period (including fashions) than the 2021 adaptation mentioned above.

Outrageous (coming in 2025)

And now, we’re getting an actual bio-series about all five Mitford sisters! It’s being made by BritBox, so I assume must be connected to the BBC? According to Vanity Fair, this will be one of three imagined seasons (but only the first has actually been commissioned), so it’s clearly not going to cover their entire lives. That being said, the article says that the story will begin when eldest Nancy is in her late 20s and youngest Deborah is in her teens. According to screenwriter Sarah Williams, part of what interested her was,

“How, of six girls, three could be extremists…how does that happen? And how does a family split apart due to politics, which I’m sure is happening in America just as much as is happening here? People with the same backgrounds, the same genetic inheritance, if you like, can turn out to be vastly different when it comes to politics, and I think that’s fascinating.”

Bridgerton‘s Prudence Feathering — Bessie Carter, daughter of actors Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter — will play Nancy:

Joanna Vanderham (Dancing on the Edge, The Paradise, Banished) will play Diana:

The rest of the important characters will be there too, including Unity (Shannon Watson):

We’ll also see James Purefoy as Farve (father), Anna Chancellor as as Muv, Joshua Sasse as Oswald Mosely, Zoe Brough as Jessica, and Orla Hill as Deborah.

And the costumes were designed by Claire Collins, who worked on Bleak House (costume assistant), Jane Eyre (ditto), Miss Austen Regrets (assistant costume designer), and Dancing on the Edge (crowd costume supervisor). According to that Vanity Fair article, “There are smart clothes for parties and trips to London, but in the country, there are sweaters with holes in them and ‘muddy boots—it’s all very lived in,’ [lead actress Bessie] Carter says.”

You can bet I’ll be watching and will do an in-depth review of the series!

Which of these films best captures the Mitfords for you? Which ones did we miss?