Movie #4: Fingersmith

#4 1/20/05
MOVIE: FINGERSMITH (2005)
Drama
Setting: Victorian England
CAST: Mostly unknowns
RATING: B+
WHERE SEEN: Home
SEEN WITH: John
REASON FOR VIEWING: Read and enjoyed the book
COMMENTS: It seems I keep getting movies with slow starts! But since I had read the book I knew what was going on and so I persevered. This is a BBC television adaptation of the novel with mostly unknown actors other than Imelda Staunton who received an Oscar nomination last year. Despite that, the performances were first rate. The actresses playing the roles of Sue and Maud were perfectly cast. The first hour or so of the three hour mini-series is Sue’s version of the ruse while the second hour gives Maud’s version. The third hour brings it all together. The twists and turns in the adaptation may be hard to follow if one hasn’t read the book but I had no problem even though it had been several years since I had read the book. To give more details would be to rob the viewer of the surprises discovered. This was well worth the three hours’ viewing time.

DISCLAIMER: Sarah Waters, the author of the book, is known as a writer of lesbian fiction, but the plot of this story is not so much the lesbian relationship – although it is there – but the amazing twists and turns the story takes.