Product Details

• Actors: Claire Bloom, Kerry Fox, Michael Gough, Nathaniel Parker, Sophie Ward
• Directors: Moira Armstrong
• Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC
• Language: English
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001O4C6KS
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,538 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Some people, like Sophie Ward's Alice Jordan, seem to have it all: picture-perfect house, handsome husband (Nathaniel Parker, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries), and charming children (Keira Knightley plays her daughter). Soon after she and Martin, an attorney, move back to his village, however, her mother-in-law, Cecily (Claire Bloom), tries to control their lives. And a bout with post-partum depression, has left the couple's marriage bed cold. At a party, the Jordans meet uninhibited heiress Clodagh (Kerry Fox) to whom Martin takes a shine, but Sophie finds her discomforting. Despite the thriller set-up, Moira Armstrong's sympathetic adaptation of Joanna Trollope's 1989 bestseller doesn't depict an outsider trying to worm her way into another woman's life, but an extravert who helps to bring an introvert out of her shell (Joanna claims Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope as a relation). Once Sophie realizes that Clodagh isn't after her husband, they become friends, and Sophie even begins to paint again, but when friendship turns to romance, coinciding with a visit from Martin's wastrel brother (Jeremy Northam), Sophie risks losing everything she holds dear. If Alice is too sensitive to qualify as a femme fatale, she isn't exactly a heroine either, since she can be just as controlling as Martin's mother and still depends on her parents to provide her income (Michael Gough plays her soft-touch father). In the U.K., Ward made waves when she came out of the closet shortly after making this better-than-average TV movie, unintentionally adding to the story's verisimilitude. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Based on the bestselling novel by Joanna Trollope

Recently returned to England from New York City, vivacious heiress Clodagh Unwin befriends a couple new to her village. The husband is entranced by the young aristocrat, but Clodagh has eyes for someone else: his wife, Alice.

Alice has a gilded life--beautiful children, a handsome husband, and a stately home. Secretly, she’s depressed after the birth of her third child and unhappy in her marriage. Clodagh proves irresistible. But when tongues start wagging, the women learn that love might not be enough.

Based on the bestselling novel by Joanna Trollope (Friday Nights, The Rector’s Wife) and filmed in picturesque countryside, this British production stars Sophie Ward (The Shell Seekers), Kerry Fox (Welcome to Sarajevo), Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries), Jeremy Northam (Emma, The Tudors), Michael Gough (Batman), and Claire Bloom, with a young Keira Knightley in one of her first screen roles.

DVD FEATURES INCLUDE cast filmographies and Joanna Trollope biography.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Love Story, March 22, 2009

By	Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

"A Village Affair"

A Love Story

Amos Lassen

Alice is married to Martin who she finds to be quite a boring man. When they move to a small village, Martin begins flirtations with Clodagh, but we see that she is more interested in his wife.
We see the selfishness and childishness of the characters with the exception of Alice who appeasers to be the only person with sense. Sophie Ward gives a wonderful performance as Alice but the love affair was not really believable and Kerry Fox as Clodagh emotes entirely too much-so much in fact that she loses credence. Now the movie is not bad but it could have been so much better. Ward, a lesbian in real life, plays the role of a housewife-cum-lesbian to perfection but she has little back-up from the rest of the cast. Kerry Fox seems to do not much more than roam the English countryside and crying about her thwarted love affair with Ward.
There are shades of the wonderful Merchant/Ivory team but unfortunately the film is far too imitative and just doesn't add up to what more capable hands could have done with the wonderful material that was originally written by Joanna Trollope.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wonderful story, June 16, 2009

By	Fred "Fred M" (Turkey) - See all my reviews

I found this film to be most interesting - having a lesbian in the family made it far more compelling as I tried even more to understand the writer's story below the surface. I found it well done and feel I understand more deeply what the characters are trying to present - a deep and undying love that is only possible through in-depth meaning.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth seeing., June 12, 2009

By	Justin C. Mccann - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I found this film a pleasure to experience. Sophie Ward is stunning. She carries the film as she beautifully captures in a subtle, complex, and very compelling performance, the emotional changes her character is going through. I look forward to seeing it again.