Review of Affinity (2008) by Jean-Francois V — 18 Jun 2013

I was not too sure I Wanted to see this film. On the one hand, I expected it to be another blatantly pro-homosexual British film, based as it is on a novel by Sarah Waters, one of the most active homosexual public figures in Britain, and the author of "Tipping the Velvet", a raunchy lesbian novel that was also adapted to the screen by Andrew Davies. But on the other hand, I thought that nothing much could happen between two women in a Victorian prison, and that the film would turn out to be just a story of a strong, ambiguous friendship with nothing really wrong about it. Anyway, I love late XIXth century atmospheres, and I am rather fond of both Zoe Tapper (who was also a lesbian in the 2008 TV series "Survivors") and Anna Madeley, who was brilliant in "The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton" and had a rather funny role in the 2008 version of "Sense and Sensibility". And finally, I love the voice of Anna Massey, who did the narration on the BBC's audio history of Great Britain, "This Sceptred Isle".

Well, I was wrong about the homosexuality. The film portrays no less than four lesbian pairs, and some passionate kissing or foreplay between most of them, with a little B&D roleplay to spice things up. Moreover, males are presented in the usual lesbian way, as either rapists or pompous bores, except for a rather sympathetic librarian, who may well have been a homosexual in the novel, and worked for some occult society anyway, which made him alright according to modern inverted values.

But despite this, I found the movie rather engrossing. I had guessed most of the "clever ending", but I was surprised by the depth that was added by the last couple of minutes of the film, which turned it into something more than a "gotcha" type of movie, a la "The Illusionist" or "The Prestige". What makes it a little difficult to outguess is that it does not let you know whether the supernatural is supposed to be real or not within its universe (and I won't tell you either.).

Morally speaking, I can't really recommend "Affinity", but I'm glad I've seen it, and it has made me want to see more of both Tapper and Madeley, which apparently, I will soon do.