Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Blistering performances.

I started watching the film thinking that it was the usual period drama but was soon bombarded with scene after scene of nudity and sex. And I thought, surely there has to be some reason for this. It soon dawned on me that apart from the feminist theme and the blurring of morals whereby we tend to sympathize with Fanny and justify her actions, the underlined message is that sex is overrated. The film gradually deromanticizes sex until it becomes grotesque.For those of you who are starry-eyed, this film will ground you in the realities of human relationships. I give it a 6 because the plot was implausible.

It is quite silly but the book -for those who have read it- is also written for the sole purpose of entertaining and certainly it is nothing but an excuse to write about sex, innocent girls turning into prostitutes and brothels... and of course a prince charming to save such a foolish girl from her wretched life. The brothel life is presented as being something of an orgiastic paradise and love emerges i would say rather unrealistically in these circumstances. It's a movie to watch just for fun, it has lots of erotic scenes some rather perverted I would say! I liked the costumes and the atmosphere. I didn't like the way the love story develops. It's too far-fetched.

I've seen a 1983 British version of "Fanny Hill," which was enjoyable in a slap and tickle sort of way. This recent opus is probably a more "serious" treatment, with much less explicit sex than the 1980s film. The young woman playing Fanny here was very attractive, and this adaptation does, I believe, stick to the novel's premise in that Fanny does not make any real apologies for her past. It was circumstances that got her into prostitution, but she basically chose to stay there until it was possible for her to leave it. The film does comment on the double-standard of that era (and ours still) in that Mr. H. finds what Fanny does to be dishonest while willingly entering brothels himself. Yet some of the males, especially that terminally-ill young man who wants to pass his last days with Fanny and her co-workers, are sympathetic. Anyway, the costumes were good, period atmosphere authentic, and leading actress lovely (including brief nudity)and entertaining.

This adaptation of John Clelland's 18th century novel was broadcast on BBC4 recently. Telling the story of an innocent northern country girl who travels to London to seek her fortune it certainly gallops along at an entertaining pace. Along the way, Fanny falls into the clutches of brothel keeper Mrs. Brown, finds her true love, finishes up in the gutter and finally....well, you'll have to watch it yourself to find out! The cast ranges from beautiful to grotesques, all play their parts with gusto and the tongue in cheek script provides enough material for all of them to shine. Everyone looks as if they are enjoying themselves. Made with the BBC's usual high production values and eye for historical accuracy, it's naughty, it's bawdy and an enjoyable, lighthearted piece of entertainment. I'm sure that this will eventually find its way onto BBC 2, it certainly deserves a wider audience - so keep an eye out for it and enjoy!