Affinity (DVD)

I've read all Sarah Waters books and must say I'm bit disappointed with this movie. Probably if someone have never heard about Affinity, the book, would have no idea what the movie is about. Characters differ from this described in book. Plot is changed (Theophilius does not apper in novel). BBC could have put more effort in creating this movie.

Sarah Water's slightly neglected second novel has taken a while to come to the screen which is odd as the storyline is as affecting and interesting as either 'Tipping the Velvet' or 'Fingersmith'. Set, as are the other filmed novels, in Victorian England, this is not quite the Victorian era of the sugar coated period dramas we are used to. Altogether a darker place, a place of repression and hidden hurt. Margaret, in mourning and facing an arranged marriage, has become a prison visitor in a philanthropic bid to lift her gloom. While at the prison she becomes fascinated by Selina Dawes, a young woman who supposedly is a medium, and who is in prison ...  Read the complete review

This film was aired on the BBC over Christmas and is the third instalment from Sarah Waters who wrote Tipping the velvet and the Fingersmith which were also adapted by the BBC. Affinity though takes on a darker tone compared to the other two stories mentioned. It is set in 1874 and tells the story of Margaret Prior (Anne Madeley) a lady who lives a well to do lifestyle and has become quite bored with her daily existence. She is mourning the loss of her father and in order to take her mind off her grief she decides to do some good by offering her services as a visitor to ladies at the Millbank prison. It's there that she meets Selina played Zoe tapper and Margaret ...  Read the complete review