Depressed over her father’s death, a Victorian woman volunteers at a prison but becomes sidetracked by a beautiful prisoner who claims she is a medium Affinity, based on the mystery romance novel by Sarah Waters, is a well-done melodrama spun from ghost tales, sexual tension, and female rebellion. Director Tim Fywell, known for his work with Masterpiece Theater and other British television programming, maintains period detail in this story of a modern love quandary between two women in Victorian England. In it, Margaret Prior (Anna Madeley) begins visiting Millbanks, a dreary women’s prison, to combat the malaise she feels following her father’s death. There, she meets famed medium Selina Dawes (Zoe Tapper), imprisoned for her client’s murder that she alleges was committed by Peter Quick, an evil, uncontrollable spirit she channelled. As the two women grow closer, their psychic battles with unknown forces increase congruently to the external and internal conflicts that arise, namely warnings from Margaret’s male suitor, and the prison guards that protest her criminal alliance. The physical beauty of the two actresses greatly enhances the sexual tension implicit to this supernatural fantasy. The story maintains an historical relevance to women’s socio-political issues, as it envisions what women’s prisons looked like during the Industrial Age, and it tackles a subject matter, namely séance, that was of major interest to women during the Victorian era. Dark atmospheres and repeated close-ups of the protagonists’ emotionally fraught faces lend Affinity a severity that is borderline sensationalistic. Overall, Affinity functions as a witchy soap opera suited to ladies wishing for a light spook. –Trinie Dalton
Rating: 
(out of 9 reviews)
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September 9, 2010
#1
Review by dcg
Rating:
Interesting story! As expected, it is beautifully filmed, the dialogue is convincing and the actresses are wonderfull – like other Sarah Waters stories. The actresses do a wonderful job in displaying love for one another, despite the lack of love scenes between them. I Really enjoyed the twist in this one, very unexpected! I give it a 4 however, because the end was a bit disappointing. I agree with the previous reviewer in that if you like happy endings movies, this one will likely dissapoint. Overall though, I though it was a very good movie and worth a look.
September 9, 2010
#2
Review by Amaranth
Rating:
“Affinity” is a surprisingly good thriller set in a women’s prison during Victorian times. Margaret Prior (Anne Madeley) is devastated by her father’s death;to make matters worse, her former lover Helen is now wed to her brother. She decides to be a lady visitor at a women’s prison. In a sense,it symbolizes women’s imprisonment at the time. Margaret is expected to marry&bear children–but she keeps her secret “locked tightly inside her.” Selina Dawes (Zoe Tapper) is literally imprisoned, apparently for an accident that happened during a seance. The conventions of the time are confining. Anna Massey,a classic British actress,stars as a prison matron.
Margaret finds herself falling in love with Selina. Their union is primarily platonic (unlike other Sarah Waters movies)–there are only a few chaste kisses at the end. Margaret finds herself haunted by spirits. Her locket carrying Helen’s hair vanishes; she mysteriously receives flowers. She finally has the strength to break her engagement with Theophilus.
“Affinity” is an engrossing movie. The cast is uniformly excellent. Like Sarah Waters’ previous movie “Fingersmith”,con games are important to the plot. The final plot twist is heartbreaking,and surprised even me. Despite its use of overused tropes (women in prison, suicidal lesbians, same-sex relationships basically doomed to tragic ends),it succeeds as a thriller.
September 9, 2010
#3
Review by Milagros Gonzalez
Rating:
In short, this movie was horrible. I expected even better than Tipping The Velvet and Fingersmith. Was Sarah Waters asleep on this one ??? The main character actress wasn’t believable, the jailed woman was much better. I understand the occult, and being gifted with a talent. It was a nice touch, but it just didn’t come together. The flasbacks were hard to follow, although I also understood the intent. To have it end the way it did was cheap, I’ve seen that ending before elsewhere. If I had wanted to see a good love story I would have popped into my dvd player “Somewhere In Time”. And that is male on female, but much appreciated. I wouldn’t give this movie a second thought.
September 9, 2010
#4
Review by adale o’brien
Rating:
the friend for whom i bought it says it’s OK, but she wasn’t thrilled . . .
September 9, 2010
#5
Review by Jenn D.
Rating:
I liked this adaptation on a spooky Sarah Waters novel. I am a huge fan of her writing and was a bit disapointed with another adaptation of a previous novel, but this movie did a good job. The movie is a bit spooky without being scary. The viewer can feel the passion and uncertainties that every character expresses even though the story is more rushed than the novel.