Our take
Before Park Chan-wook adapted her novel Fingersmith in The Handmaiden, author Sarah Waters wrote Tipping the Velvet, her debut novel that painted the life of lesbian women in Victorian London. Surprisingly, this controversial novel was produced and broadcast by the BBC in 2002, sticking faithfully to the plot, with all the racy sex scenes and relaxed depiction of lesbian life that shocked the public at the time, but over the years, the miniseries has become known as the refreshing classic that shifted the way lesbians were depicted on screen. While primarily centered on white women, Tipping the Velvet changed the way Victorian sexuality was depicted, with the joy, sensuality, and happiness in Waters’ passionate narrative.
What it won
BAFTA
1 nom
The story
A tempestuous tale of love and life as a naïve girl discovers both romance and pain in the hidden, decadent world of bohemian London in the 1890s. Nan Astley embarks on a voyage of emotional and sexual discovery with Kitty Butler, a music hall male impersonator.
Elsewhere
"All this, wonderfully, is much more like an MGM musical than like The Well of Loneliness."
— John Leonard
After falling in love with a male impersonator, former oyster girl Nan Astley follows her to London, starting as her dresser, but eventually eking out a life as a performer and activist.
This is actually the first time I’ve seen Victorian era lesbians (The Favourite would have counted, if it weren't for the face Queen Anne lived before the Victorian era), and it’s so interesting to see their lives depicted on screen, a history that was erased and ignored until recently.
My only complaint is that there are only three episodes. BBC, Britain, the United Kingdom, heck, maybe even Park Chan-wook… have you considered a new adaptation today?
The details
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
