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The magnificent Helen Mirren soars through British TV movie
Cause Célèbre, a true-life story of a scandalous murder in 1930s England. Soon after Alma Rattenbury (Mirren) hires an 18-year-old named Bowman (David Morrissey) to help around the house, she falls into an affair with the much younger man. Madly in love with her and jealous of her much older husband, Bowman rashly murders the elderly man. When the lovers are put on trial, the tabloids rant less about the murder and more about the sin of Alma's middle-aged passion. The storyline of
Cause Célèbre contains few surprises, but it's skillfully written--the mordant wit of Alma's and Bowman's lawyers blithely discussing how each intends to blame the other's client is delicious--and wonderfully acted by Morrissey; David Suchet as Alma's celebrated lawyer, T. J. O'Connor; and especially Mirren, whose intelligence, sexiness, and empathy make her every scene fascinating.
--Bret Fetzer
Product Description
The true story of Love, Lust and Murder that obsessed a nation
It’s 1935. The headlines scream "murder most foul." All England is boiling with fury – scandalized by the "crime of the decade." Cause Célèbre is an emotionally complex real-life drama of love, betrayal, guilt and obsession spun hopelessly out of control. Did Alma Rattenbury (Helen Mirren) – as she confessed – bludgeon her ailing husband to death? Or, was it Bowen, her 18-year old lover – desperately driven by their affair into a fit of jealous rage?
Whatever the truth, as an upper class wife and mother, she is already condemned by an outraged public for the unforgivable crime of loving a boy only half her age. Into this maelstrom of emotion, facing Alma’s confession and the public’s wrath steps T.J. O’Connor (David Suchet), the distinguished, brilliant attorney for the defense fiercely determined to save his client.
Helen Mirren weaves a spellbinding web as Alma Rattenbury, a fragile, free-spirited woman caught in a passion she is helpless to control.
