Customer Reviews

Affinity

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Interesting story! As expected, it is beautifully filmed, the dialogue is convincing and the actresses are wonderfull - like other Sarah Waters stories. The actresses do a wonderful job in displaying love for one another, despite the lack of love scenes between them. I Really enjoyed the twist in this one, very unexpected! I give it a 4 however, because the end was a bit disappointing. I agree with the previous reviewer in that if you like happy endings movies, this one will likely dissapoint. Overall though, I though it was a very good movie and worth a look.

"Affinity" is a surprisingly good thriller set in a women's prison during Victorian times. Margaret Prior (Anne Madeley) is devastated by her father's death;to make matters worse, her former lover Helen is now wed to her brother. She decides to be a lady visitor at a women's prison. In a sense,it symbolizes women's imprisonment at the time. Margaret is expected to marry&bear children--but she keeps her secret "locked tightly inside her." Selina Dawes (Zoe Tapper) is literally imprisoned, apparently for an accident that happened during a seance. The conventions of the time are confining. Anna Massey,a classic British actress,stars as a prison matron.

Margaret finds herself falling in love with Selina. Their union is primarily platonic (unlike other Sarah Waters movies)--there are only a few chaste kisses at the end. Margaret finds herself haunted by spirits. Her locket carrying Helen's hair vanishes; she mysteriously receives flowers. She finally has the strength to break her engagement with Theophilus.

"Affinity" is an engrossing movie. The cast is uniformly excellent. Like Sarah Waters' previous movie "Fingersmith",con games are important to the plot. The final plot twist is heartbreaking,and surprised even me. Despite its use of overused tropes (women in prison, suicidal lesbians, same-sex relationships basically doomed to tragic ends),it succeeds as a thriller.

Never thought I'd say this: a film with a lesbian subplot that can cure insomnia. I have not read any of Sarah Waters' novels, but this is the third movie I've watched that was based on them and I'm beginning to think that Waters has a poor opinion of women and lesbians (albeit disguised in her smoke and mirrors). In this convoluted suspense story, the female characters are crooks, swindlers, gullible, lonely, controlling, violent, desperate, suicidal -- and in one important scene, sexual molesters. If this was also the novel, then it's a mystery to me how Waters has managed to gain a loyal following of lesbian and feminist readers.

This film version of Sarah Waters' brilliant novel "Affinity" seemed rushed and muddled and had very little emotional impact on me. I recognize that it must have been challenging to adapt the book, whose strengths are its detailed character development and slow ratcheting up of psychological tension. Although the book has action scenes and dialogue, much of the story is built on the internal thought processes of characters which cannot be as easily conveyed in a movie.

The film's use of flashbacks to show the backgrounds of the main characters (a device used effectively in the book to slowly reveal character and keep you on edge) were too fleeting and, even for someone who has read the book, confusing. Two other weaknesses undermine it. The lead actresses, altho lovely to look at, are sort of one-note, not very subtle actors and I didn't feel any chemistry between them that would support them developing a real passion for each other (which is rather crucial to the concept of "Affinity"!). There is also a third character who plays a critical role in the story who is only brought in minimally at the very end of the movie. If you haven't read the book, you are likely to wonder where the heck she suddenly came from and what her motivations are/were. I wonder whether they shot additional scenes with her that maybe ended up on the cutting room floor, because her placement in the movie just seems so clumsy.

The special features section of the DVD includes interviews with the director, producer and screenwriter (the great Andrew Davies, who penned the excellent screen versions of "Pride & Prejudice," "Bleak House" and "Little Dorrit"). I couldn't help thinking as I listened to these three men repeatedly refer to the women characters as "girls" and make simplistic statements about female needs and desires that the whole project would have benefitted from having women at the helm.

Sarah Waters' book "Affinity" is a really gripping, emotional story. Skip this video and read the book. The film versions of Waters' Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet, both produced by the BBC, are MUCH better and highly recommended!

The acting and the sets are wonderful. Generally, the movie is faithful to Sarah Waters' novel; unusually, I would say it improves on and enhances the work it is adapted from. The special features include excellent interviews with the author, the scriptwriter, the director and two of the actors which add tremendously to appreciation of the work.

How marvelous to find a modern British drama unshrouded by multiculti or other manifestations of political correctness! This is a straight-out suspense story that manages to float elements of supernaturalism and existentialism into a well-paced plot that glides smoothly from the haut monde to the demimonde, from rococo parlors to rock-walled prison cells.
No rose-colored lens distorts this stark vision of Victorian society. Strict morality and convention may cast a pall over one's hopes, but so may the spector of spiritual and physical poverty. Naivete and sexual frustration can prove to be as dangerous as material deprivation and desperation.
Superbly acted and directed, this drama hosts a cast of multidimensional characters whose depictions may startle and even disquiet contemporary viewers who are accustomed to sensitive treatment of subcultural portrayals. Such unflinching grittiness, however, adds layers of possibilities to a plot that digs deep into the underworld of a strait-laced society.
Surprises and plot twists abound as the protagonist--as well as compliant viewers--allow themselves to wonder just what is possible in this cinematic dimension. What, if anything, is real in this particular realm? Apparitions? Clairvoyance? Autokinesis? Each audience member should have a self-satisfying answer by film's end.

You have to approach this movie with the idea "that it will not be like the novel". They have imagined lots of things that are not in the book... I'm thinking a lot about the Peter Quick character. When the movie ends, the viewer has no remaing question about what "really" happened like the reader of the book. In fact, if compared to the other movies made out of Sarah Waters novel(Tipping the Velvet ans Fingersmith), this one is really different from the book. However, the person who had watched it with me (he have'nt read the book) enjoyed the movie very much.

Costumes and recreation of the historic period are well done (except for that horrible beard wig... well being a wardrobe master myself I was a little puzzled by that one and laugh out loud about it!).

The finale (and the begining!)of the movie looks like the one that was done in Janes Campion "The Piano".

I liked this adaptation on a spooky Sarah Waters novel. I am a huge fan of her writing and was a bit disapointed with another adaptation of a previous novel, but this movie did a good job. The movie is a bit spooky without being scary. The viewer can feel the passion and uncertainties that every character expresses even though the story is more rushed than the novel.

the friend for whom i bought it says it's OK, but she wasn't thrilled . . .

In short, this movie was horrible. I expected even better than Tipping The Velvet and Fingersmith. Was Sarah Waters asleep on this one ??? The main character actress wasn't believable, the jailed woman was much better. I understand the occult, and being gifted with a talent. It was a nice touch, but it just didn't come together. The flasbacks were hard to follow, although I also understood the intent. To have it end the way it did was cheap, I've seen that ending before elsewhere. If I had wanted to see a good love story I would have popped into my dvd player "Somewhere In Time". And that is male on female, but much appreciated. I wouldn't give this movie a second thought.