Home :: DVD :: Art House & International :: British Cinema  

Asian Cinema
British Cinema

European Cinema
General
Latin American Cinema
Tipping the Velvet

Tipping the Velvet

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $22.46
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Keeley Hawes is a Divine Revelation!
Review:
Keeley as Kitty is the true magnetic north of this adaptation.

Sparks fly only when Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes) is on stage/screen with Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling). Their beginnings and actual formal introduction are quite delicious.

And altho it goes somewhat downhill after part 1, (precipitously so in part 3 due to some uninspired casting and story drudgery) it is still enjoyable and mostly satisfying as a whole.

It's truly worth it for part one which features the giddy magic of repressed-sexual-attraction-turned-sizzling-erotic chemistry of Kitty/Keeley and Nan/Rachel.


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Well acted, well written, and...well, just GREAT!
Review: (...) it's absolutely wonderful! The acting is superb, and the costumes and set are very carefully done. If you read the book and loved it, you will like the DVD though the ending is presented in a different way. The outcome is the same. I recommend both the book and the DVD.

Docgio

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It isn't perfect but...
Review: ... what is? I like this movie. I plan to watch it again. I found myself really wanting Nan to find true love. I identified with her in that regard. I found the lovemaking in the film very beautiful in places. I really enjoyed seeing those tender moments between women portrayed so well. I wish that there was more of it on film. I certainly hope that we all are not required to traverse the darkness that Nan did in order to find it, but I hope we all do. I am of course speaking of love.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tipping The Velvet-Most excellent video.
Review: After reading the Sarah Waters novel, I was keen on seeing the video production made by The BBC for TV in England. I was unsure of how much censoring would be done. I purchased the video from England, and after changing the region setting on my computer DVD player to region 2, I was treated to one of the classiest mini-series I have ever seen. Much humor, no censoring of the material, and a classy production reminiscent of Moulin Rouge of last year. Sensitive treatment of an otherwise neglected subject. Very classy show tunes and Vaudeville-like stage productions make for absolutely the best lesbian-themed video ever. Kudos to BBC for having the gumption to make this into video. Hats off to Rachael Sterling, Keeley Hawes, and also to Andrew Davies for a wonderful screen adaptation, faithful to the novel. They simply have to release this to the US market!!!
JP

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mainstream lesbians
Review: Are you looking for more than a soft porn movie? Are you tierd of the lack of professionalism in lesbian films? This movie has a real plot, a distinct beginning middle and end.Attractive actresses who can act. The directing is good, the acting smooth. It's cinama worthy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: francais
Review: ce dvd est bien fait. les actrices sont merveuilleuses quelle charmante aventure bien racontee et bien tournee. mais j ai un probleme, j aurais aimer l avoir en francais.svp a quelle endroit je pourais avoir des dvd en francais.help, help. merci.jeannine.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best TV Has To Offer
Review: 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!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: THIS WAS SO GOOD
Review: Gay or not, this will absolutely amuse you to pieces. It was a cross between Moulin Rouge and Anais Nin. So theatrical and rich in images. The story is a bit epic in that you follow someone through the adult years of their life and what a ride it is. London has never looked more seedy and more beautiful and you get lost in the wealth of the storytelling. Strap it on for a try. Keep an open mind.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This Version is EDITED
Review: I don't know what Bookerone is talking about. I've seen the british version and the american version has at least 10 minutes that are cut throughout the movie. I can't believe that amazon is selling this as the "complete UK edition" when it is clearly edited.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FABULOUS!
Review: I happened upon the first three episodes at the 7th Annual Portland Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. I've never seen anything like it. It's fun without being too campy. Nan King is a wonderful character that you really empathize with, experiencing situations that we have all been through, just in a different time.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates