Tipping the Velvet
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Movie Reviews of Tipping the Velvet
Movie Review: A Sort Of Pride & Prejudice With "Naughty Bits"...
Summary: 5 Stars
"A Sort Of Pride & Prejudice With "Naughty Bits"..." so says Andrew Davies, the screenwriter of "Tipping The Velvet", whilst adapting Sarah Walter's debut novel as he describes the smashing success of the BBC made for TV series.
"But I didn't want to be her sister, I wanted to be her sweetheart!" so says Nan Astley, played beautifully & naively sweet by Emma Peel/Diana Rigg's real-life daughter, Rachel Stirling, of her first love, an actress of sorts, Kitty Butler, played by Keeley Hawes. Kitty's act is quite an odd one at the turn of the 20th century. Kitty dresses and acts on stage as a boy, even cutting her hair! How shameful in the day and age this novel and series is set in.
"Tipping The Velvet" has been described as a lesbian historical piece but it is MUCH more than that. When you think of the Victorian era you think of stuffiness and of course, an element of great sexual repression but it must be remembered that during this time, women really moved from the passive to agressive; seeking their own ideals, life and pleasures that lie therein. This was the time of suffrage and Victorian women were coming into their own, with increased freedoms of all kinds, power, education and above all, just plain fun!
And since Queen Victoria famously refused to admit lesbians even existed, young women like the Nan, Florence and Kitty's of the Victorian world were safe from being jailed unlike their male counterparts...
Also in the cast is Anna Chancellor ("Duckface" in Four Weddings & A Funeral) as Diana Leatherby, a sadomasochistic & exhibitionistic lover, and Jodhi May (Sister, My Sister & The House Of Mirth) as the kind, sweet and generous Florence.
I am not going to lie. There are some very dicey scenes in this made for TV series that won't be to all people's liking, but if you have an open mind, can look beyond just a person's sexuality and see the truth and good in people, then you will enjoy this film as I did.
Highly Recommended For The Indiscriminate...Movie Review: The Best TV Has To Offer
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all I would like you to forget about the lesbian content in Tipping the Velvet for a minute.As far as writing, acting and directing goes, it is an above average TV mini series (in three parts) that will truly engage you from the very start.
The attention to period detail,the sets and costumes and atmosphere is quite impressive,whereas the adventures of Nan (Rachael Streling)living in the claustrophobic Victorian age can be seen in more general terms as the struggles of a liberated and independant women trying to assert herself in a not so understanding environment.
The fact that she is a lesbian can be seen,in a way, as accidental vis a vis the larger context of a woman's self expression and identity way ahead of its time.
Why Tipping The Velvet works so well, is because it is written and filmed in such a way that Nan's sexuality and with which gender she falls in love does not really matter,as the viewer sympathizes totally with her story.
Geoffrey Sax and writer Andrew Davies (based on a bestselling novel by Sarah Waters), successfully manage to tell the story of Nan both dramatically, emotionally and visually with a consistency that never lapses for a minute.
Now to the lesbian content.
I have to say that Tipping The Velvet has the most daring lesbian scenes ever filmed for the small screen.Each of the three episodes contain Nan's sexual expressions and identity both graphically and emotionally..her passion and true love for Kitty (Keeley Hawes),her desires,her submission to a controlling woman (Anna Chancellor) who uses her younger lover as her 'sex slave' in an Victorian underground world of lesbian orgies,her affair with a maid (a rather explicit scene)and eventually finding a safe berth and the peace of mind.
Tipping The Velvet works so well on both levels, and no matter how exciting the 'lesbian' angle might be, it is at the end, the story of a free spirtied woman's journey in a world that was hostile to such manifestations of independance.A must buy!!
Movie Review: A brilliant film!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is a great story about a young girl nancy astling dealing with her mixed feelings for music hall actress kitty butler. Nan finds herself uncontrobly in live with kitty and they share their passion for each other many times. Nan elopes with Kitty to London and becomes part of Kitty's act. Kitty afraid to commit herself totally to nan, betrays nan and marries walter. Nan, upset and distraught runs away to the safety of a rented room and does not emerged for months. Once able to move on from her scared days, she becomes a tom, making her money to pay the rent. Unaware to her a misterious woman has been watching her. One day nan meets Florence and they hit it off, un fortunately for Nan, she is kidnapped by diana leatherby and whisked away as a sex slave. Unable to meet florence Nan regrets this but has no complaints against this unwanted kidnapping. Living with Diana for many months as her slave, Nan gets used to daily life and her role in Diana's affairs. Sick and tired of being bossed around by Diana, Nan and Zena, a servant, embrace and share their passions for each other. Unspectidly Diana and her friends walk in and catch them at it. Diana immediately chucks them out. Nan and Zena go to a boarding house for the night and Nan thinks they will live together. Nan wakes the next morning to find Zena has ran away with all their money and yet again Nan finds herself with no-one and nothing. Nan, with no-where to go, remembers Florence. She tracks Florence down only to feel unwelcomed. But over time Nan and Florence fall in love and share their passions for each other. Nan slowly regains trust and friendship and even returns to the music halls with her own act. Nan then has to make the hardest choice of her life, as Kitty comes to find her and says she wants Nan back.Nan ponders this, but in the end makes the right choice, the girl she loves, the girl that didn't betray her, Florence. They are not afraid to commit to each other and live the rest of their lives together.
Movie Review: Here's a TIP--Buy this DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished watching "Tipping the Velvet," and I am STUNNED by how magnificent it was! I cannot believe that I waited so long to see it. The only thing I regret about seeing it for the first time tonight, though, is that I'll never get to see it for the first time ever again.
I don't want to say much about the plot; however, I will say this to describe it: Set in the 1890's Victorian England, Tipping the Velvet starts with us meeting 17-year old "Nancy Asteby," a sea-side bred and oyster-shucking girl in who can't understand why kissing her boyfriend makes her feel nothing. When a traveling cross-dressing vaudeville singer "Kitty Butler" performs in drag at a local playhouse, Nan develops a crush on her and sets off on a journey. Determined to be Kitty's "sweetheart," Nan follows her and the show to the larger theaters of London. Nan cuts her hair and turns herself into a male impersonator to be a part of Butler's act, and thoroughly enjoys her new butch persona. Nan and Kitty fall in love, but problems arise. Nan's journey takes her from experiencing a plethora of ups and downs, while traveling through the circles of London's lesbian aristocrat society and sorjournes with her understanding the contentment of love.
Tipping the Velvet is based on the novel by Sarah Waters, adapted by and made into a three-part series by the BBC. The quality of the cinematography is superb, better in fact that many movies I've recently seen. The coloring is as gorgeous as the women. In a post-movie interview, Waters comments that she loves the film, but that really intense and excellent scenes were omitted from the movie that were in the novel. That means I'm going to buy the novel and read it for sure.
Go rent this movie. Buy it, in fact, because you'll want to anyway.
Movie Review: Beautiful and provocative. Essential viewing.
Summary: 5 Stars
Forget all of the nonsense that people have written about you must read the book first or after or whether you must read the book at all. Forget all the nonsense about this character was miscast because that is not the way that I visualised her/him when I read the book. Never ever, having read a book, expect to see that same book on screen. It has never happened since movies were invented and it never will. A book is a book and a film is a film. They are two different mediums and should never be compared. This film is an adaptation of a novel and should stand or fall on how well the story is told, and how believable are the characters, the actors performances, the cinamatography and whether the director achieved his goal et al. People have complained that they find Rachel Stirling's voice irritating. Well folks she is playing a Kentish working class girl with a Kentish working class accent. She isn't going to suddenly start speaking like Julie Andrews. Keeley Hawes gives a "stilted performance". Keeley Hawes has never given a stilted performance in her life. In the UK this DVD is not for sale to anyone 15 and under so don't settle down on the couch to watch it with your kids. It is not a family film. If you are homophobic, don't watch it. If you don't like overt sexual content lovingly enjoyed and find it distastful and disgusting, don't watch it. Watch a gory mass murder or war film depicting man's inhumanity to man instead. You know, something you find more palatable. This is a story about loving lesbian relationships, betrayal and a young girl's growth into womanhood. Forget the genesis of the film being a novel. Just sit down and enjoy it as a film with a wonderful cast, great acting, beautiful costumes and scenery and a great story.