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Rating:  - A Masterpiece!
I find nothing to dislike about this BBC production in three one-hour parts. Which is rare, for me. Usually I can dis at least a minor detail in a movie. Well, ok: I dislike that the show ended after "only" three hours. I would have preferred a neverending saga. Yes, "Tipping the Velvet" is THAT good: after three hours, this cynical critic is left wanting MORE.
Rachael Stirling is utterly perfect in the leading role. No one on Earth could have done a better job. She is passionate and speaks straight from the heart with bravery and truth and hope: a heroine such as we seldom see. She has a knack for imbuing her voice with that extra something which implies, oh so much emotion and truth. I have indeed scouted out other movies with this extremely talented genius. Stirling has led me into the excellent "Poirot" series, simply because she happened to star in one episode (with another excellent performance).
"Tipping the Velvet" is light years above "The 'L' Word," and even "Queer as Folk." More so, if you love period pieces, as I do, that explore times past. Use vehicles like this as a time machine and find out how your great-grandmothers and grandfathers lived. How can anyone not be interested in history, which tells us what we were, and helps us understand the present and predict the future?
An exhilarating, uplifting, glorious life that will make you believe, once again, in the majesty of the human animal. Recommended! Regardless of your sexuality, gender or anything--this is a very human story which transcends all boundaries.
Rating:  - Not What I Expected
After I read the novel i decided to rent the movie, wondering how such an erotic and delightful book can be translated onto the screen. All i can really say is that even though the storyline was followed closely to the book, and the acting was halfway decent, the main thing that turned me off was the sometimes amateurish look of how it was filmed. And i don't think the film captured the feeling of the two lovers, Nan and Kitty, as well as i hoped. But i do give props to the actress who played Nan, she played her very well. All in all it was just an OKAY movie. The sex scenes were wonderful (though a tad bit tamed compared to the book), the time era was captured pretty well, and i liked how at times there was a cute or clever twist to it. But I think it could have been much better. Highly recommend the book, i think you should read it before watching the movie. It's definitely worth reading. As for the movie, well, i don't highly recommend it, but it's not a bad film to watch nonetheless.
Rating: - For richer or poorer?
The photography and the sparkling performances of the particpants make this movie engrossing from the first minute, but the best bits are in the closing stages. Who would you choose? A very attractive looking former lover, whose heart you dont fully understand, or a less atractive one, who you believe loves you.
To make the plot more complicated the person making the decision has recently been through hard times, where economic security would most likey be high on the agenda.
Rating:  - Young Woman in 1890s Learns that she might really like girls
A three episode British television program set in 1890s Victorian England that is based on the novel by Sarah Waters. Romantic drama. Contains nudity.
Overall plot: The program follows an English country girl, Nan Astley (a.k.a. Nan King), swept up by a female performer (male impersonator) into the 1890s English world (first in the theatre), then the plaything of a rich woman, and then, bloody and down on her luck, she runs into Florence again.
DVD Features: Contains the three episodes and special features. The special features are: an Interview with Sarah Waters and Andrew Davies (Waters - author of the book; Davies - screenwriter of the TV series; warning: contains nudity), a photo gallery, and Cast Filmographies.
Credits: Rachel Stirling (Nan Astley; "Freeze Frame"), Keeley Hawes (Kitty Butler; TV: Zoe on "MI-5"), John Bowe (Walter Bliss; "Coronation Street"), Jodhi May (Florence Banner; "The House of Mirth"), Anna Chancellor (Diana Lethaby; "Four Weddings and a Funeral"), Monica Dolan (Alice Astley; "Topsy-Turvy"), Sally Hawkins (Zena Blake; "Layer Cake"), Alexei Sayle (Charles Frobisher; "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"), and Hugh Bonneville (Ralph Banner; TV: "The Robinsons"). The director is Geoffrey Sax.
Episode: 1: The show opens up on an English seaside oyster village and an oyster house. After quickly pointing out the relatives, the narrator (Nan) notes that "this" is about her, a young oyster girl (who has a boyfriend but she feels nothing much when she is with him). The family visits the theatre, and Nan falls for a female performer (male impersonator), and is heart broken when the performer throws a rose, and she isn't the one to catch it. Nan keeps returning to watch the female performer (Kitty Butler). She dumps her boyfriend (when he says that she would let him do her if she really cared for him) and keeps returning to watch the show. Eventually she finally meets Kitty Butler, and just like that, Nan becomes Kitty's dresser for the season. And then Kitty gets a contract to perform in London, and asks Nan to go with her (at first Kitty sees Nan as a sister and Nan wants to be her sweetheart, though once Nan puts on male garb . . .). Once arrived in London, Kitty strikes out at first, but eventually she succeeds. Then Nan joins the act, and has her beautiful hair cut short. . . . Alice, Nan's sister, doesn't like the homosexual/bisexual lifestyle. Caution: contains nudity and female love-making (and for that matter, contains smoking). (4.22)
Episode 2: Opens with a recap of the previous episode. And now, the ramifications of Kitty getting caught sleeping with a man (and the man, Mr. Bliss, she plans to marry). Nan doesn't react well and leaves. And now Nan's off on her own, off the stage, going slightly insane, holed up in her new room for around two months. After Mr. Bliss and Kitty finally tie the knot, Nan finally leaves her room for the first time, and then Nan decides to try to increase her meager savings by pretending to be a man. And she starts in a new profession. She becomes a male prostitute/street walker (luckily enough, she herself almost never had to get undressed). She finds a better house to live in, then "courts" Florence, the next door neighbor. And then, she becomes a rich woman's tart (ah well, it is still something like acting). Caution contains smoking, attempted rape, domination, nudity (episode is very vaguely similar to the book "Emma's Secret World" by Hilary James). (4.28)
Episode 3: Another recap. Another new start due to a bad ending. This time she causes another woman to lose her job. She has reached a new low, and is now in a poor house. And her new "friend" runs off with their money. She wonders the streets, blood dripping from the unsealed cuts, starving penniless . . . She collapses at Florence Banner's new place, "married with child" (actually, it's her Socialist brother, and the child is another's). Nan decides to try to make herself indispensable, to be allowed to remain in the house. And when she the baby stops crying in her arms, she is allowed to stay. Shall this end badly too, maybe with Nan making an unwanted pass at Florence? I know, but I shall not tell (though there is something of going back to the beginning feel to the episode). Caution contains brief nudity and smoking. (4.44)
Review: I don't particularly like the odd directing style of the show, the jerky, jumping around style (though it does tend lose its annoyance factor, and this style doesn't occur throughout). Interesting look at 1890s England. A quality program with good acting, but then, that's what you expect from British television. The program does well making it appear to be 1890s English countryside, and then London. A good enough, though strange little program. There's a strange real feeling to the program, especially in the third episode. I was actually pretty reluctant to watch this program, but I am very glad I did, now. (Overall: 4.31)
Rating: - Does it get any better than this?
Oh, my. I don't need to recap the story. Done in 3 segments, and left in those segments on the DVD (which was nice), the plot is clear and compelling, the characters believable and incredibly sexy. Plenty of real romance and plenty of discreetly portrayed sex (this would never make it as a porno flick, but leaves little to the imagination nonetheless). It has been a rare occasion when I have enjoyed a movie as much as this one. If you miss it, it is definitely your loss, and a real loss.
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