Dance with a Stranger

Ruth Ellis (Miranda Richardson) was a night club hostess in one of London's private clubs. It was a Spring evening in 1954 when David Blakely (Rupert Everett) walked in with some friends. Little more than a year later, Ruth Ellis was hanged for the murder of Blakely. The movie tells the compelling, tawdry, almost inevitable story of what happened.

Ellis was divorced and living with her young son above the club she helped manage. She bleached her hair, knew how to keep men laughing and buying, and was definitely not part of the upper class system. Blakely was a race car driver, wealthy, young, selfish, had the right friends, and had never had to face any real responsibility in his life. With some mixture of lust and need, the two of them instantly became entangled in each others' lives. "Where do you live?" he asks her. "Over the shop," she says. "Can I take you home tonight?" "Yes." Their affair follows a pattern. First lust, then tears, abuse, his forgetting her for a while, her desperation, and lust again. She has one friend, Desmond Cussen (Ian Holm). Cussen loves her but is the type of man who can't quite get up the nerve to kiss her, much less invite her to bed. He trails after her and tries to pick up the pieces. Cussen knows the kind of man Blakely is. "Why can't you leave him alone," he once shouts at Ellis. "He's so involved with himself he can't think of anything else." The results are predictable. Ellis slides further into misery and fixation the more Blakely takes her for granted and forgets about her at times. One night she takes a pistol, follows him to a pub, and when he leaves she carefully puts two bullets in his chest.

The trial was a great event in Britain. It had everything: sex, the class system, a tawdry affair. The legal system couldn't deal with her fast enough. The trial started June 20, 1955. She was hanged July 13. Ruth Ellis was the last woman hanged by the British.

The movie is excellent and the performances are extraordinary. Rupert Everett was 26 when he made the film. He's perfect as the product of a privileged system, so selfish as to be cowardly, so self involved that he misses entirely what he is doing to Ellis, or even care if he did realize. Miranda Richardson at 27 carries the movie. Her performance made her a star. I can't describe what she does except that every word she says and every step she takes just rings true. She is utterly mesmerizing.

This is, in my view, one of the movies that can probably be called great. You'll be thinking about it for some time. The DVD picture looks fine. The only extra is an alternate ending, which is disposable.

This Film 4 production has been shown on the television a fair few times but I thought I'd watch it on DVD to get a different perspective. The story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman in Britain to be executed is powerfully played by the talented Miranda Richardson and the playboy racing driver David Blakeney is nicely portrayed by Rupert Everett. The production really evokes the post-war years and the early 50s and the foggy sets add to the period detail.

Personally I found it hard to understand why Ruth put up with David for so long but it was clear that the relationship was one of those passonate distructive ones. Her faithful suitor, played by Ian Holm adds good support and it's a shame that she didn't settle for him as he would have been able to give Ruth the secure home life she so desparately needed, should she have decided to choose her head over her heart.

There are a couple of cameos from the likes of Joanne Whalley and Lesley Manville which are worth looking out for if you're a fan of Film 4 productions.

'Dance With A Stranger' is based on the true story of the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Mirander Richardson plays Ruth Ellis in this 'fairly' accurate story of the real-life drama.

Whilst not a huge fan of true stories being brought to the silver screen, this is interesting - if only for putting across very well how this woman should not have been executed. Whatever her morals and personality (whether you like or dislike her) it is blatantly clear that the only way to be rid of this troublesome young man (David Blakeley) was to kill him (from her perspective that is) If what we see we are to believe, this woman was 'plagued' by her one-time lover long after she'd tired of the affair and had told him as best she could (Blakeley being played by a young and handsome Rupert Everett) and therefore these should have been 'mitigating' circumstances to say the least. Of course it should not be forgotten that she did in fact take a life, and so there are arguments for both sides...

As with 'Ten Rillington Place'; this also will ignite passionate feelings - either for or against Capital Punishment. I hope the latter woud still prevail.

Ian Holm also stars.