Wow! Such a good movie.

Instant Favorite.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

I have just finished watching the final episode today and - like another reviewer (jane) I did not want it to end. This has so much to recommend it. Although I am an avid appreciator of 'period drama' some of it, let's face it, is not brilliant is it? Yeah, okay it's watchable, but this, THIS is just fantastic, because:1. It has all the allusions to 18th Century 'tales' of 'fallen women in the big dirty London City' like Daniel Defoe's 'Moll Flanders' for example, but then adds something else, something new. 2. The something 'new' is an in your face representation of 1870s London. What a relief to see it how I imagined it to be. As a working class London girl who was lucky enough to study London Victorian life from a working class perspective it was exhilarating - and terrifying - to see what appears to me an accurate vision of the time and place. If you want servile happy poor folk who are 'everso grateful' to their betters, then go get a Disney version. This one goes for it. You can almost smell it - and it ain't nice, it ain't pretty. From the attempts by the prostitutes to prevent getting pregnant, the attempts to 'get rid of' unwanted pregnancies to the completely unsexy images of rich men f**cking in an alley way. 3. All of the acting is superb. Let us all thank God that the Americans never got hold of this for a film version. When Agnes thinks she sees her 'Angel' loitering in the street below the window, it is a play on the Victorian ideal of womanhood 'the angel in the house' - William Rackham's idealisation - and separation - of the two women in his life says so much that needed to be said about this often idealised time in history. The Angel in the House, particularly after Sugar moves into the home as Governess, means the Prostitute became the Angel in the House, if but briefly. 4. The one weak link for me was the character of Emmeline Fox played by Shirley Henderson. I am now reading the book and wonder why this character was made so two dimensional when her character really could have been sooooo much more. But hey......different texts, so if you haven't read the book, you won't care.5. When the body of Agnes is plucked out of the Thames, there are nods and winks to the Pre Raphaelite painting of 'Ophelia' - the woman driven mad by her lover who drowns herself. Art that was by Victorian males, judged by Victorian males and modelled by at least one prostitute. Also, a comment on the strange ideas of womanhood during this period - but by extension, the strange ideas right now. Yeah, it has changed, but has it changed as much as we like to believe? In this way it becomes a meditation on the past and the present.Highly recommended to everyone who loves a good yarn. Even more so to anyone who wants a warts and all depiction of the past. Romola Garai and Chis O'Dowd are just wonderful and should win at least a couple of awards for their efforts here. .....but everyone is good, special stars for Gillian Anderson as the collector of religious pictures who proves beyond any doubt she can play anything the director throws at her. Lovely performance. Also recommend the book upon which this is based. First rate.

I love a good period drama, and The Crimson Petal and the White is exactly that. The book is a masterpiece, full of rich, memorable characters and a very interesting story line that draws you in from the word go, and this series lives up to it very, very well. Not only as an adaptation, but on its own terms, and it is addictive and easy to get into. I am not going to say which is better, the book or the series, I love them both equally.Where The Crimson Petal and the White scores especially is in its setting and how it looks. The whole series is beautifully photographed, and the scenery and costumes are astounding. Not only that, the lighting and colours look so rich and vibrant in colour. The Crimson Petal and the White also succeeds in conveying a major asset that most period dramas have but some just lack, atmosphere. The atmosphere is so strong and authentic often that you don't feel you're watching a series, you feel as though you are being transported in time and reliving that moment for yourself.I am also fond of good music in pretty much anything, being an aspiring singer and growing up into a musical family. The music for The Crimson Petal and the White is exquisite. Sometimes it is beautiful. Sometimes it is poignant. And sometimes it is haunting and intense when it needs to be. All these fit wonderfully with every scene, and are thankfully done in a subtle way in alternative to being done in an over-bearing and overly bombastic manner.There is also a lot of depth in this series. Not that the book didn't, quite the contrary, but here the characters especially have the richness and perhaps even complexity of those in a Dickens dramatisation, in particular Amanda Hale's character. In fact for me, characterisation wise, The Crimson Petal and the White is the most in-depth series I have seen in the past year or so.The Crimson Petal and the White benefits from really strong writing. It is very intelligent and literate with a dark quality to it too and never jars from the scene it appears in or in the characters it helps shape. The story helped by the atmosphere is hugely compelling, with subplots and the like developed very nicely without feeling too underdeveloped or padded out. The length and pacing should be credited, The Crimson Petal and the White considering how mammoth the book is, doesn't feel to me like it was too short, too rushed, too long or too meandering, instead it is perfect.The direction also helps, it is very stylish and elegant, very like the camera work and settings for the series. The acting is superb, my favourite being Amanda Hale who gives real credibility to her increasingly tormented character instead of making her fall in caricature. Gillian Anderson is almost unrecognisable and is very good, she always is very good, but the thing about Anderson is that the more I see of her the more she impresses me. And this is pretty much the same with Romola Garai, I liked her very much in Atonement and Emma but I loved her here as she plays for my money her most interesting character to date. The biggest surprise though, and in a good way, is Chris O'Dowd, when I think of O'Dowd his style of acting(cheeky and spontaneous boyish charm) is very different to what is seen here, and overall he does do a really good job.Overall, an amazing series. 10/10 Bethany Cox

As a fan of Victorian-era drama, this 4-part adaptation of a Michel Faber book of the same name is right up my street. It is the story of a London prostitute called Sugar (played by Romola Garai) who takes the fancy of a well-to-do merchant Mr Rackham (Chris O'Dowd) and how their relationship develops. What starts of as a purely sexual thing, soon become much more than that and Sugar becomes increasingly involved in Mr Rackham's home and business life. The whole production is fantastic - from the stylistic direction right down to the set design, costumes, music and acting. Romola Garia and Chris O'Dowd particularly stand out, as does Amanda Hale as the mentally disturbed wife. I have just finished watching the 3rd episode and did not want it to end, it was that gripping. I can't wait to read the book and only hope it is half as good as this series. I will definitely buy this when it comes out on DVD and watch it again. All in all, highly recommended!

I rarely write reviews. However...within two episodes, the BBC licence this year has been worth paying. And with gratitude. Quite fond of a Victorian drama, everything about this series is magnificent. The detail–underarm hair on women, the ugly charm of London in the nineteenth century, the wide open shots of the streets simply for a scene where one woman walks across the road–offering a tantalising view that the viewer could actually be there, the lighting, the makeup, the production, the acting, the direction... I did not recognise Gillian Anderson at all and had to refer to my paper. How far she has come. Chris O'Dowd I thought was an odd choice to begin with–but how he fitted in. Robert Sterne has to be congratulated. It is without a shadow of a doubt that the next two episodes will not disappoint. I must rush out and buy the book. First class.