robert-temple-1 This is another superb film directed by Tim Fywell, based on a novel by Sarah Waters and with a script by the noted Andrew Davies. The film is dominated by a superb central performance by the young actress Anna Madeley. It is an eerie tale set in Victorian London, and the directing and art direction are a bit high Gothic intentionally, to heighten the sense of the supernatural. For me, the high point was a personal one, for it featured one of the last film performances of my old friend Domini Blythe, who died not long afterwards of cancer. The first time I met Domini, John Hurt and I were in the Flask pub across from his little house in Flask Walk in Hampstead. It was a hot day and we needed cold beers. Then an amazingly beautiful girl entered the pub, in search of a cold beer for herself. John and I agreed that she was so beautiful that we must try and pick her up, if only to find out who she was. We got her name out of her, but John was otherwise getting nowhere and so I decided to try a chat line of asking her if she were related to Blythe the stage hypnotist, and said I was fascinated by his technique of being able to exercise mind control by speaking through a loudspeaker attached to a large balloon which he floated above crowds of people outdoors. When Domini realized I knew of and appreciated her grandfather (her father was Peter Blythe the actor), she instantly made me a blood-brother, and she fastened her magnetic eyes on me and began speaking to me in her low, sultry, mesmerising tones so that I was quickly entranced. Later, her favourite thing to do with me was to 'become a python'. She would make me stand in the middle of a room, preferably with an audience of friends, and she would slither over my shoulder, down my back, under my arms, under my legs, and eventually come to rest on my shoulders, hanging her down down in front of my chest and look up at me with a penetrating hypnotic gaze. During all of this performance she never once touched the ground, and appeared to defy gravity. She later became part of the original cast of the hit show OH, CALCUTTA!, which was written by the weird Ken Tynan, who was married to Claire Bloom. That was back in the days when we were all young together. She went on a long Shakespeare tour of Canada and didn't come back, so we were out of touch for many years. In the last months of her life, as she was desperately ill, my wife and I exchanged loving emails with her, having by chance discovered how to contact her. Her brother told us how much it meant to her that her old friends had not forgotten her, and it gave her some comfort in her last days. Another actress in this film who was also near the end of her life and would die of cancer at practically the same time as Domini is Anna Massey. I did not know her nearly as well as I could have wished, but she was one of the most fascinating women in London. If you wanted real conversation, then going to her house and talking to her and her scientist husband Uri could not be bettered. I shall never forget the moment when she handed me a dull grey rock and told me that it was from South Africa and was called kimberlite. She kept it on inconspicuous display in her sitting room at the front of the house. She told me to look at it more closely. I saw that it contained a raw diamond. Apparently, that is how they occur in Nature. Probably it was the only such specimen in London apart from the Natural History Museum's mineral collection. And now they are gone, such amazing and irreplaceable souls. Anna Madeley, however, remains, now has 41 credits, and was even in A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING (2012, see my review), part of which was shot in my office. The other young female lead in the film is Zoe Tapper, whose treacherous allure is enough to lead many astray, which is what happens to poor Anna Madeley. For this film is about spirits, séances, lies, treachery, crime, redemption, and girls liking girls. And there are lots of jangling prison keys and cell doors and female wardens. So it is quite a heady offering. And watch out for Peter Quick! Oh yes, there is the comforting and soothing presence of Anne Reid as Mrs. Brink in the film, who seems prepared to reach out of the screen and wipe any anxious brow.

Ms. Vyk Having just read the book, I was really looking forward to the film adaptation.What a disappointment. The film felt extremely rushed, with no development of the characters. I did not for one minute believe the "affinity" between Selena and Margaret and so, consequently, felt nothing about the ending. Which did NOT do justice to the book. More time should have been spent showing the relationship between Margaret and her family members, for instance. And more emphasis on Selena's previous life and Peter Quick. And, lastly, more about that awful prison and what the women had to endure.Read the book if you want "the real deal" and to be suspended in excitement, suspense and terrific writing!

sarastro7 I checked the IMDb rating of this film before watching it. 5.7 - not too promising. But as I subsequently watched it, I found myself more and more surprised at this low rating, because this was well-produced and well-acted and would probably, I thought, get a 7 from me, at the very least. The plot was intriguing and exciting and understated in an appealing way. Which is why the nonsensical ending was so disappointing.I haven't read the book, but I understand I have the exact same problem with the film's ending (different from the book's) as do those who've read it. It's a common theme in stories of the supernatural that it is eventually revealed to be a hoax (Dean R. Koontz, anyone?), so while it was not surprising, it would have been a great deal more refreshing if it had turned out to be real. But, it was deception. It was all intended to deceive. The very core of the plot, the whole concept and the entire point was deception. Hence the story undermined its own plot by having Selina nurture regrets and have feelings for Margaret after all. Because Selina and Vigers could only have pulled something like that off if they were really, really committed to these fraudulent schemes, and worked together with complete trust between them. Therefore Selina's regrets just don't make sense.The story, at the end, in my opinion, should have focused on the relationship and genuine feelings between Selina and Ruth Vigers, which would *actually* have made this into a proper love story after all - except of course for the a bit more than slightly silly fact that they were lesbian rapists (uh - a bit of a stretch in any case) and thus the bad guys. But I could actually have looked beyond this because of the era in which it took place; an era where lesbians could not openly live out their heartfelt lifestyle, but had to find very alternative and creative ways of doing so.Anyway, the "spirit rapes" being their chief motivation made the whole plot rather dumb, and after that revelation how on earth are we supposed to care for these characters? So, the IMDb rating is pretty accurate after all. A shame.6 out of 10.

r_landrygan I read the novel first, and was so glued to it that i got through it in the matter of a weekend. when i went to see the film i was not expecting to be as impressed as i was through reading it, but this adaptation is as magical as the novel and did it the justice it deserved. it is they type of film that can be watched time and time again without losing its appeal. i would recommend it to anyone, regardless of whether they like period dramas or not, because it is not the average period drama - it is a film that transcends time, and will reach some part of every person. personally i would go and watch it innumerable times if i could, and cannot wait for the release of the DVD.