Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Swashbuckling, lavish and gritty drama, 15 Jan 2009
As with many 'period' dramas, The Devil's Whore is guilty of bending the truth somewhat. The best way to approach this sort of drama is to take it for what it is, a very entertaining series that, admittedly, would have probably been given 5 stars had it been longer, but the condensing of what was originally intended to be a ten episode drama into 4 episodes was the consequence of the BBC's decision to bump the drama to Channel 4.
Andrea Riseborough is a huge success as the intoxicatingly unconventional Van Dyck-esque Angelica Fanshawe, the central (fictional) character who unites the important people and events of the Civil War and Interregnum. But this political upheaval provides more or less the background to her life.
Starting out as a doll-like debutant courtier, she is troubled by having seen the Devil during certain instances in her life (a little bit of an unnecessary inclusion to an otherwise excellent story-line in my view).
Angelica is married with the encouragement of her guardian, King Charles, to her cousin and childhood friend, Harry Fanshawe. At this time,she comes into contact with hardened mercenery Edward Sexby, and is initially both repelled and intrigued by his thirst for battle and his drifting way of life. As the grimness of the Civil War unfolds, Angelica's boyish husband finds himself in deep water in command of Roylist troops. Demonstrating his military inexperience, he suffers an ebarassing defeat by Cromwell's troops, and King Charles is less than forgiving to the unfortunate pair.
Widowed and helpless, Angelica attracts unwanted advances from a chauvenistic merchant and accidentally gets embroiled in a murder scandal that won't seem to leave her alone. She crosses paths with Edward Sexby, and the pair, world-weary from their shoddy treatment at the hands of the royalists, change alliegence. Angelica is still in constant danger though, and Sexby, who harbours a secret love for her, is her only protector.
By this time, Angelica meets the charismatic political idealist Thomas Rainsborough, and they almost instantly fall in love, but in a time of such treacherous political instabilty, their happiness cannot last.
The action is gritty and suspenseful, even if large chunks of history are left out and Oliver Cromwell is shown in a somewhat lenient light. Michael Fassbender deserves credit for his strong performance as the principled but passionate Raisnborough. But it is John Simm that, for me, steals the show. Standing with quiet but passionate devotion on the sidelines of Angelica's life for so long, his masculinity and mystery is genuinely compelling, and he is the true swashbuckling hero of the drama as he wades in to defend Angelica and save the day and win her love, in uncertain times, danger, betrayal and retributution constantly lie around the corner and Angelica finds she has to take the law into her own hands and rely on her wits for her survival and happiness.
All in all, a thrilling, quality drama that just deserved to be longer.
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Action & Drama in the English Civil War, 17 Dec 2008
This is brilliant in all aspects; from the acting to the story line, from the costumes to the locations, from the bloody action to the naked romping. It simply has it all. Whereas The Tudors failed to produce a gripping plot, here the characters come to life in a well written and executed TV series of 4 episodes.
The Devil's Whore is based upon the true story of Lady Fanshawe who wrote her life story in 1676. This series is based around her life during and after The English Civil War between the Parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell and the Royalists, led by King Charles 1, between 1640 and 1649.
Watch as her life twists one way and then another, intermingled with Honest John, King Charles, and Oliver Cromwell.
Rest assured this one is a 5 star attraction!!
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it, despite a couple of niggles, 27 Jan 2009
The design, locations, and photography in this series are enchanting, with an unusual use of colour, and key moments of the drama are so evocatively filmed that it feels like you are watching a moving artwork at times, but in a way that adds significance to the story rather than distracting from it. I looked forward to each episode as a highlight of the viewing week when it was showing on tv, and was mesmerised by Peter Capaldi's performance as the doomed king, and was extremely disappointed when his character was killed so early on (at least it felt that way to me).
This series is a powerful antidote for anyone who is bored and alienated by the cliches of Hollywood-style cinema and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a rattling good story. However, a few things grated.
Although acting brilliantly at some points, I felt John Simm was miscast and that the part of Sexby needed someone bigger (sorry John). Something about his portrayal didn't quite feel authentic to the period, or perhaps to my assumptions about the period. However his portrayal of the emotional development of his character was quite convincing, and tragic, and the nature and loyalty of his love for Angelica, and his portrayal of these feelings, was excellent, and never overdone. His constancy slowly emerged as the backbone of the story in a very satisfying way as it was buffeted and tested by circumstance, and the tragedy of his story and the damage he suffered were powerfully portrayed.
Andrea Riseborough was also brilliant at times, although there were a couple of moments where I was distracted because to me she sounded very like her recent portrayal of Margaret Thatcher (it's the voice). There were also gaps in the characterisation - something in the Riseborough character was missing and although it was clear how circumstance dictated her different phases, eg the gun-toting highway-man phase, the digger phase and the "mad-about-the-boy/betrayal" phase, it was hard to feel the emotional continuity and development and I don't know if this was the fault of the script, the acting or whatever (possibly just me - way too picky). I didn't get the feeling that I knew her, that I understood her as well as I did Sexby, although his character was perhaps more straightforward. I wondered if this was because had exaggerated aspects of the story for dramatic effect at the expense of consistency in the character, or had tried too hard to make it "relevant" to our own times and issues. Or maybe the story was too condensed (I for one would have been delighted to have had more episodes to watch).
My only other niggle is that, for someone not familiar with the history of the time, I found the characters and political distinctions in the first couple of episodes hard to get keep track of and to understand, but this gives me all the more reason to watch it a second time.
In the end, it left me wanting more, because it was such a great story, with such an excellent cast, a captivating portrayal of place and time, and a plot that appeared to have grown out of the unpredictability of real-life rather than the demands of cinematic cliches. It was very involving and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of intellectual challenge in their viewing, along with stunning visual effect and the occasional shock (it is not for children as the occasional portrayal of violence is explicit, ugly, awkward, and disturbing and therefore quite convincing I will never forget that sword scene).
I loved this series, and I wish there could be more, but the main characters ended up pretty dead at the end of it all, so I guess that is it. Loved it.
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