A Woman’s Guide to Adultery (Telefilm)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Telefilm: B-
Long
before Sex and the City, British TV
gave us A Woman’s Guide to Adultery,
the 1993 TV adaptation of Carol Clewlow’s book.
It also happens to have a cast at least as interesting, including Sean
Bean, Theresa Russell, Amanda Donahoe, Adrian Dunbar, Ingrid Lacey and Fiona
Gillies. Because the British and their
television are more comfortable than that of the U.S. networks, there is more nudity
here than the Lifetime Network could handle, if not the frontal male nudity and
more explicit sex of City.
The sex
talk is nowhere near as frank either, but there is plenty of suggestive sexual
moments and more than a few shots of male “arses” from the start, including
that of Bean (groupies take note).
However, this has aged well for being over a decade old and is always
intelligent. The cast is very likable,
which makes the sex less trivial than we get now in a media culture saturated
with it to the point of self-satire.
Rose
(Russell) hears all about the adultery her friends are engaging in and thinks
it is appalling, stupid, and immature, until Paul (Bean) walks into her life,
and then she starts to change her tune.
Unlike points of Sex and the City
which has been criticized for some male-bashing, this never does. It takes its characters more seriously, as
they take themselves, and makes for a better program overall. Sex is never a big joke here, hopelessly
hip. A theatrical film could have taken
this material farther, but this is still not bad, especially as it goes along. It gets better as it goes on, which is good,
since it runs 149 minutes. Director
David Hayman and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce do a fine job of retaining the
female point of view without obscuring or masculinizing it.
The full
frame, color image is average, though the production was shot on film. This is on the soft side, suggesting an older
analog master was used. The shooting is
not bad, including the nudity and sex, which is done tastefully. Cinematographer Graham Frake deserves credit
for making this look better than the usual TV fare. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is slightly stereo and
fares a bit better. Except for fairly
good bio/filmographies of Russell and Bean, this DVD is void of extras.
This is
not set up as some coy guide, nor does a guide as a joke. The title becomes somewhat ironic and a smart
joke at the end. I could see this
getting remade down the line, and that should make for an interesting
comparison.
- Nicholas Sheffo
