Fingersmith
by Aisling Walsh
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Troughton, Imelda Staunton, Karen Seacombe, Stephanie Middleton, Tallulah Pitt-BrownDirector: Aisling Walsh
Brand: STAUNTON/DANCE
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 180 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
Movie Reviews of Fingersmith
Movie Review: A mystery within a puzzle wrapped inside an enigma...
Summary: 4 Stars
Fingersmith (Aisling Walsh, 2005)
Fingersmith, actually a two-part British TV miniseries, came to America as a three-hour DVD. Based on Sarah Waters' novel of the same name, it details the dealings of Susan Smith (Sally Hawkins, recently of The Painted Veil), a thief (thus the title) in London in the nineteenth century who becomes involved in a complicated scheme to swindle a large sum of money out of Maud Lilly (The Others' Elaine Cassidy). Smith, through a series of intrigues, becomes Lilly's handmaiden, but the two of them quickly develop a friendship on top of that, and possibly something more (I haven't read the novel, so I don't know if it's explicit there; it's certainly implied here). The trick is, there's a great deal more to Maud Lilly than anyone realizes; once you hit the halfway point, the surprises here come thick and fast, and what looked to be a simple crime story blossoms into an all-out mystery/thriller that I was in no way expecting. And what a pleasant surprise it is.
It helps, of course, that both Hawkins and Cassidy are almost painfully beautiful, and that, plus the script's implications as to their relationship, certainly helps propel the first half of the film, which is half crime story and half Merchant/Ivory comedy of manners (a genre of film to which I have never been able to warm myself). At the halfway point, though, I stopped noticing, and for someone like me, that's saying something. How many red herrings can you throw into one script? How many little side perversions can you add without things becoming too overloaded for anyone to see your plot? How many twists and turns, how many character revelations, the whole bit? Yes, it does end up playing the Vitorian-melodrama card so loved by writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne (I heard a pretty strong echo of the last line of House of the Seven Gables in the last few minutes of this film, though it's not quite as deus ex machina as Hawthorne allowed himself; still, it's awfully convenient), but it's such an enchanting thrill ride getting there I actually didn't half mind. There's a great deal of fun to be had here, even if you're not a big fan of Victorian costume drama; a very entertaining little film, well worth watching. *** ?
Summary of Fingersmith
From Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet, comes this twisting and twisted Victorian-era thriller with an L-word charge. Sally Hawkins stars as Sue, an orphan who grows up among the reprobates of Lant Street to become an accomplished "fingersmith" (thief). Elaine Cassidy costars as Maud Lilly, an heiress who, as a young girl, was plucked from the madhouse and raised by her stern, bibliophile uncle (Charles Dance). He makes her wear gloves at all times so as not to smudge the precious tomes he makes her read every night. Enter Richard Rivers (Rupert Evans, the otherwise sterling cast's weakest link), an artist hired to give her painting lessons. But he has designs on Maude's fortune, and recruits Sue for an elaborate con. That's when the gloves really come off. Originally broadcast on the BBC, this riveting three-part tale of illicit passion and betaryal is by turns harrowing and quite erotic (the tasteful sex scenes manage to generate heat without baring a lot of skin). The literate script reveals its feminist leanings ("You are a man and might do everything," Maude tells Richard during their first meeting. "I am a woman and might do nothing."). The superb cast includes Academy Award-nominee Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as Mrs. Sucksby, a Fagin-esque character who mentored Sue, and has a few surprises for Maud, as well. --Donald LiebensonGrowing up as a foster child among a family of thieves, orphan Sue Trinder hopes to pay back that kindness by playing a key role in a swindle scheme devised by their leader, who is planning to con a fortune out of the naive Maud Lilly.
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Media Type: DVD
Artist: STAUNTON/DANCE
Title: FINGERSMITH
Street Release Date: 09/13/2005
Genre: DRAMA
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