TV Reviews : Pomp but No Passion in ‘The Woman He Loved’

“The Woman He Loved” is a royal bore.

This two-hour CBS movie (9 p.m. Sunday on Channels 2 and 8) purports to tell the scoop behind the romance that shook pre-World War II England, culminating with the Prince of Wales giving up his right to the throne by wedding twice-divorced commoner Wallis Simpson. They were known thereafter as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, famed for their clothes and jet-setting.

Directed by Charles Jarrott, William Luce’s story flashes backward and forward between the duke’s death and funeral in 1972 and the building closeness between David (his given name) and the American Wallis four decades earlier. She was married to Edward Simpson at the time.

Although “The Woman He Loved” is embellished by gorgeous location filming, it’s plodding at best, and downright moribund compared with a British miniseries on the same subject that aired on “Masterpiece Theatre” in 1981.

Speaking impeccable Americanese, Jane Seymour makes a ravishing Wallis in her inky wig and heavy makeup, but her performance ends there. And that fine actor Anthony Andrews turns out to be a laughably muffled caricature as David.

These two act like they’re packed in ice. There is so little chemistry here, so little passion and energy, that intense love between David and Wallis seems out of the question. When they’re together, it’s like a meeting of two herrings.

Even beyond this, however, “The Woman He Loved” has no center or soul. There’s no attempt to penetrate beneath slick surfaces. Omitted, too, are the complex and intriguing political machinations that accompanied David’s attempt to keep both his throne and Wallis, without which these two become nothing more than a fashionable pair in the world spotlight.