"‘Affinity’ - Good story, good characters, a surprisingly interesting period piece."
Normally period dramas are not my cup of tea at all; they immediately make me switch off a little unless they have something a bit different to hold my attention. Affinity was such a film because it dealt with Spiritualism, which I think is an interesting topic.
This story is set in Victorian times when people found themselves fascinated by the occult in general. It involves an intelligent young woman Margret (Anna Madeley) who is in mourning for her late father. She worked as his scientific assistant and has devoted her time to intellectual pursuits rather than marriage and children, something expected of her. But there are reasons she has avoided marriage until this point, which slowly filters out through the course of the film.
Looking to do something worthwhile with her time, she becomes a 'Lady Visitor' at one the local women's prisons, Millbank. Here she is tasked with passing on her god-fearing, proper upbringing on the dregs of society. Margret though finds herself drawn to one particular inmate, Selina Dawes (Zoe Tapper). A woman who appears isolated from the rest of the women. She finds out that this is because she is a spiritualist a medium that can communicate with spirits of the dead.
This whole aspect intrigues Margret and she starts to form a bond with Selina. Strange events start to happen in Margret's world, events that can not easily be explained. The appearance of a flower in her room, Orange Blossom which is out of season, starts Margret thinking there is a lot more to Selina than first meets the eye. Selina protests her innocence to the crimes of which she is charged, stating the 'spirits' did it and not her. Margret looks to take up Selina's cause and starts to explore the circumstances around her imprisonment.
What is nice about this film is you are kept guessing, about whether there is substance to the Spiritualism or if it is all a well carried out con. The ending of the film was a surprise and I like surprises!
Considering the small cast, we only deal with a handful of main characters, the story is intriguing, often puzzling and unexpected. Even when you think everything has clicked together, it is not as it all appears and will keep you guessing right until the end.
All the acting performances were good and it includes many well-known British actors. I thought the two main characters Margret and Selina were played very well by Anna Madeley and Zoe Tapper respectively. As they were the lynchpin characters that held the story together, that had to be believable and I think both came across well.
My only gripe overall was the beard of Theophilus (Vincent Leclerc) it seemed a little glued on. Probably wouldn't have been so bad if it was a small beard, but it was a big bushy beard and just didn't look right.
Overall, although not being a fan of period dramas I would say this is an interesting story with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.
DVD Release Dates
1 Comments
0 Comments