Fanny Hill

This adaptation of John Clelland's 18th century novel was broadcast on BBC4 recently. Telling the story of an innocent northern country girl who travels to London to seek her fortune it certainly gallops along at an entertaining pace. Along the way, Fanny falls into the clutches of brothel keeper Mrs. Brown, finds her true love, finishes up in the gutter and finally....well, you'll have to watch it yourself to find out! The cast ranges from beautiful to grotesques, all play their parts with gusto and the tongue in cheek script provides enough material for all of them to shine. Everyone looks as if they are enjoying themselves. Made with the BBC's usual high production values and eye for historical accuracy, it's naughty, it's bawdy and an enjoyable, lighthearted piece of entertainment. I'm sure that this will eventually find its way onto BBC 2, it certainly deserves a wider audience - so keep an eye out for it and enjoy!

Fanny is a young innocent lass from Yorkshire who meets a new friend as she heads to London. She finds herself fortunately falling into the care of Mrs Brown and her home for young women. Fanny quickly finds that Mrs Brown's girls are not really keeping their virtue for the right young man but rather are loose women available for payment. With a terrible first experience, Fanny flees Mrs Brown with a young man who she loves and loves her. Things appear to be on the up for the innocent young girl, but soon she is back in harm's way with little to fall back on but her innocent appeal.

I dismissed this when it came out originally because to me it just looked like another bodice ripper with sex and nudity served up in a "high-brow" package that makes it OK in a way that, for example, nudity in frat-style comedies is crude and wrong. This father snobbish attitude did put me off, plus the fact that my experiences of Andrew Davies suggested that he starts with the sexual content and then works backwards to the substance – an approach that doesn't always work for me. However I decided to give Fanny Hill a go (oh-err missus) and I'm glad I did because it was enjoyable in a big romping sort of way. The nudity is of course quite explicit for what older viewers will be used to but it is well done because it fits the overall upbeat mood of the film.

To my mind there was an element of risk with this because think how tasteless it would have been if the mood hadn't worked, after all this is a story about a woman given into prostitution and left with little option but to have sex with multiple partners in order to survive. To suggest that this may not be the subject of a fun drama special is not that unreasonable given the problems of people trafficking. But it does work and the device of having Fanny narrate her own story with a cheeky tone of voice and happy reflection; this allows the viewer to relax – after all if she is fine with it, we can be too.

The story is engaging and I was interested in the character so that the sex and nudity was not the "all" of the film but rather just an element of the telling. Hawes' direction is good but the sets and costumes deserve mention – they are not convincing in regards the period but they are very good in regards the genre standards and in this way it all works. Night leads the cast really well with a cheerfully big performance but yet also with a certain amount of emotion and genuine feeling. Her support is all good as well, with everyone on the same genre page. Bond, Stansfield, Sheen, Steadman and others all do good work.

Fanny Hill was promoted and discussed in regards the sexual content but this is doing it a disservice because it is more than that. The tone and style is all about being a bawdy romp and it works, covering the rather unsavoury aspects of the story. Ultimately it is a typical BBC period romp but it is an enjoyable and entertaining example thereof, with good delivery all round.

I've seen a 1983 British version of "Fanny Hill," which was enjoyable in a slap and tickle sort of way. This recent opus is probably a more "serious" treatment, with much less explicit sex than the 1980s film. The young woman playing Fanny here was very attractive, and this adaptation does, I believe, stick to the novel's premise in that Fanny does not make any real apologies for her past. It was circumstances that got her into prostitution, but she basically chose to stay there until it was possible for her to leave it. The film does comment on the double-standard of that era (and ours still) in that Mr. H. finds what Fanny does to be dishonest while willingly entering brothels himself. Yet some of the males, especially that terminally-ill young man who wants to pass his last days with Fanny and her co-workers, are sympathetic. Anyway, the costumes were good, period atmosphere authentic, and leading actress lovely (including brief nudity)and entertaining.

It is quite silly but the book -for those who have read it- is also written for the sole purpose of entertaining and certainly it is nothing but an excuse to write about sex, innocent girls turning into prostitutes and brothels... and of course a prince charming to save such a foolish girl from her wretched life. The brothel life is presented as being something of an orgiastic paradise and love emerges i would say rather unrealistically in these circumstances. It's a movie to watch just for fun, it has lots of erotic scenes some rather perverted I would say! I liked the costumes and the atmosphere. I didn't like the way the love story develops. It's too far-fetched.

I started watching the film thinking that it was the usual period drama but was soon bombarded with scene after scene of nudity and sex. And I thought, surely there has to be some reason for this. It soon dawned on me that apart from the feminist theme and the blurring of morals whereby we tend to sympathize with Fanny and justify her actions, the underlined message is that sex is overrated. The film gradually deromanticizes sex until it becomes grotesque.

For those of you who are starry-eyed, this film will ground you in the realities of human relationships. I give it a 6 because the plot was implausible.