Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An underappreciated performance, November 15, 2000
By A Customer
After coming across this film quite accidentally on PBS, I found it thoroughly gripping, and agree completely with the other reviewers' high praise. I am adding my own words merely to encourage viewers not to overlook the extraordinary performance by Anna Massey as Sarah Cole. It is tempting to dismiss Sarah as a simple villain in this tale. However, I found Massey's stark performance deeply moving and expressive of Sarah's profound experience of displacement and loss. She is clearly the brains in her brother's business, for example, and depends on it for her own welfare, but is helpless to prevent its decline when Josiah begins to exclude her from his decisionmaking process. She is forced to abandon her lifelong home and lifestyle in pursuit of her brother's social pretensions. A proud and stoic worker, she is asked to curry favor with shallow and spoiled members aristocracy. I sympathized deeply with her scorn for unearned luxury. Female in 18th century England, Sarah--like Frances, and like Mehuru--enjoys tragically little opportunity to guide her own fate.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet, sour, brutal, raw, unforgettable viewing., December 7, 1999
By A Customer
A Respectable Trade was a fabulous book (go read it now!) and it was made into a fabulous film. All of the actors are superb - and Philippa Gregory herself wrote the screenplay, which gives the production the same magic the book had. The story begins in 1787, when ambitious trader Josiah Cole tries to cilmb the social ladder by asking the well blooded but dirt poor Frances Scott to marry him. Frances, thirty four and desperate, agrees to marry him. If only she'd known what she was getting herself into! It turns out that Josiah makes a good deal of his money trading slaves. Frances learns about the horrors of slavery, and learns about true love - from the kind and clever Mehuru - one of her husband's slaves. Yikes! Sounds like things could get complicated... and they do! It certainly makes for compelling watching.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Colorful and Dark Romantic Drama, June 18, 1999
By A Customer
I absolutely LOVED this movie!!!! The screenplay and direction were phenomenal. The costumes, sets, and actors were so authentic, at times I felt I was actually in 18th century England watching this story unfold. I am always interested in movies with slavery themes because I believe it is a crucial part of the history of people of African decent. This movie did not glamorize or down play the slavery element. It showed it in its true, brutal, sadistic form. If you are a sensitive viewer, I would say proceed with extreme caution. Overall, I found this movie to be about forbidden love and about looking beyond race as in "color", and seeing race as in "human". There are plenty of unexpected surprises so be prepared to run the gamut of emotions. Masterpiece Theater's production are always superb and this is no exception. I am sure anyone who watches this movie will love it as much as I did.
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