Life in Squares

Episode 1

Episode #1.1

58 mins

In 1905 sisters Vanessa and Virginia Stephen, having attended their father's funeral, are introduced by their brother Thoby to his friends, including art critic Clive Bell, economist Maynard Keynes, writer Lytton Strachey and the young artist Duncan Grant, who praises Vanessa's paintings. The sisters, however, hoping to carve out their own careers, dismiss all of them as likely husbands. Clive nonetheless pursues Vanessa, proposing marriage, which she puts off until Thoby dies, a fact which Virginia sees as a betrayal, though Vanessa discovers that Clive wants theirs to be an open marriage. Duncan, meanwhile, maintains sexual relationships with both Lytton and Maynard.