Tipping the Velvet

Tipping the Velvet
by Geoffrey Sax

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DVD details

Actor: Anna Chancellor, Hugh Bonneville, Jodhi May, Keeley Hawes, Rachael Stirling
Director: Geoffrey Sax
Brand: ACORN MEDIA
Cinematographer: Cinders Forshaw
Producer: Gareth Neame
Producer: Georgina Lowe
Producer: Sally Head
Producer: Sally Woodward Gentle
Writer: Andrew Davies
Writer: Sarah Waters
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 178 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-01-27
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Acorn Media

DVD Reviews of Tipping the Velvet

DVD Review: The Velvet Underground
Summary: 4 Stars

"Tipping the Velvet" is an engrossing three-part Sapphic melodrama set in Victorian England. Kitty (Rachael Stirling,who looks like her famous mother Diana Rigg) dreams of a life beyond that of an oyster girl. She goes to the theater,and finds a male impersonator,Nan (Keeley Hawes) Kitty goes from being Nan's fan to being Nan's lover. Their romance has the exuberance of first love. When Kitty goes home to be with her family, she is heartbroken when her sister rejects her for loving Nan. To make matters worse, she finds Nan in a marriage of convenience to the ironically named Mr. Bliss. Kitty pretends to be a male rent boy to earn her keep. She is found by the ruthless Lady Diana (Anna Chancellor) They have a tainted love.

The Lady Diana segment serves as a bridge. Kitty finds herself in the lesbian demimonde that seems to fit all the negative stereotypes of the LGBT community. Kitty considers herself Lady Diana's love slave, until she's liberated by having wild sex with a servant (Sally Hawkins,also from "Fingersmith") during an orgy.

Destitute, a social worker Florence (Jodhi May) saves her from a life on the streets. Florence also introduces Kitty to socialism. Kitty is torn between Nan--who wants an extramarital affair--and the devoted Florence. Who does Kitty choose?

"Tipping the Velvet" is a colorful,fast-moving melodrama. Kitty is a sympathetic character.It has a strong cast and strong writing. Come, jump over the velvet rope....

DVD Review: Good... but...
Summary: 4 Stars

I enjoy Sarah Waters. Mostly because of her novels' subject matter being at the opposite end of what the Victorian era would have never wanted you to see, thus forcing much of society to become like an underworld which was known about by everyone, yet was never talked about. This film was enjoyable, but I must admit, I found the sex scenes to be a tad vulgar. Unlike Fingersmith, which I thought handled this with a much more artistically stylized mood, Tipping the Velvet seemed to be a bit more in your face when it didn't need to be. I understand that it deals with lesbianism, and that the crew involved with making this perhaps felt like making a bold statement... but the abrasiveness with which they filmed the sex scenes made this film feel like it went a bit too far into the realm of erotica, which I would never deem Sarah Waters's books to be. All in all, its still a heartbreaking film. Yet I feel that Fingersmith will always outshine this film by far. I attribute that mostly to Rupert Evans, Elaine Cassidy, Imedla Staunton, and Sally Hawkins.

DVD Review: awesome
Summary: 5 Stars

this movie is the absolute best if you are a woman and you are stuck in a precarious position!!!

DVD Review: Victorian England .... You Have to Love it!
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie is excellent! Typical Sara Waters interleaving and this was produced flawlessly! The "added bonuses" were awesome! A must see movie!
I actually had to stop it and go do something else at one point because I didn't want to see what I thought was going to happen ..... that's how involved I was.

I just ordered the paperback, backwards for me but I just have to read it now!

DVD Review: Brits know how to make em!
Summary: 4 Stars

The British films seam to spead more money than the Americans on thier gay films. This is a totally rich film and really good story about love and betrayl....like a good novel.
J

Description of Tipping the Velvet

Smitten by music hall life, and by the beautiful male impersonator Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes), Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling) leaves her family's Whitstable oyster parlor and follows her heart to London. There she finds unimaginable joy-and misery-as she explores the secret side of fin de si?cle life.

Based on the acclaimed novel by Sarah Waters and adapted by Andrew Davies (Bridget Jones's Diary, Doctor Zhivago), this powerful BBC drama is both a frank depiction of lesbianism and a witty and moving account of a young woman who will win your heart while searching for her own. Also starring Anna Chancellor (Pride and Prejudice), Jodhi May (The Last of the Mohicans), Hugh Bonneville (Iris) and John Bowe (Poldark). "Provocative and uplifting" --The Baltimore Sun. "Flat-out sublime" --The Seattle Times.

"It's Pride and Prejudice with dirty bits." That's how screenwriter Andrew Davies (Bridget Jones' Diary), in an interview contained on this disc, describes his adaptation of Sarah Waters's acclaimed novel of lesbian love, betrayal, and redemption in Victorian England. This three-part BBC production chronicles with relish the story of Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling, the ravishing image of her mother, Diana Rigg), barely 18, and certain that life holds more for her than her oyster girl's existence. "You'll meet someone who'll have your head spinning and your legs turning to jelly," her sister promises. That someone surprisingly turns out to be "gay and bold" Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes), a music-hall entertainer, with whom Nan falls instantly, and swooningly, in love. Nan follows her to London, where, as a double act, they become the toast of London, until Kitty's "marriage of convenience" breaks up the act and Nan's heart. The outcast Nan, decked out in Victor/Victoria duds, becomes a streetwalker, and then "tart" to the aptly named Diana Leatherby (Anna Chancellor). This affair, too, comes to "a bad end" as a destitute Nan is deposited back on the streets, where she insinuates herself into the lives of Florence (Jodhi May), a social worker, and her socialist brother. Is Nan "too spoiled and stained for love?" Will she risk her blossoming relationship with Florence when Kitty inevitably returns to rekindle their affair? There is enough "backbiting and bitching" to fuel several seasons of The O.C. Nan's couplings, while tastefully done, do carry what Waters, in the co-interview with Davies, calls "a queer erotic charge." They are graphic by Cinemax standards, let alone the BBC. But the sterling writing and performances will captivate even the most sensitive viewers, making this groundbreaking miniseries, to quote one character, "a delightful evening... a rare treat." --Donald Liebenson

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