The Life and Loves of a She-Devil

This was novel writing at its best and became TV at its best. I knew Phillip Saville, the director, and this was his best but the hard centre of sheer quality came from Fay Weldon, a friend then and still a friend. She is a really nice woman but deploys a brilliant venom in the interests of her art. She is currently (July 2001) writing her autobiography and it will be interesting to see how closely she admits to connections to her then husband Ron's behaviour.

Saw this on A&E back in '92 or so, too bad I didn't tape it. It was excellent. The more popular She-Devil movie is a horrible travesty of this work.

The main character is a woman who is extremely unappreciated by her husband. She is so demoralized by him that she exacts a increasingly insidious revenge.

Excellent because it is so believable, accurate portrayal of the darker side of human emotions.

If you notice this will be on cable soon, please email me and let me know what channel!!

Nancy

This is one of the best transpositions of a novel to film I have ever seen. Unfortunately few people in the US know about this production; they know only about the atrocious version with Roseanne & M. Streep. The casting & acting in this one are flawless. One of my favorite books & one of my favorite films.

I would argue that this work ranks as one of the best made-for-television mini-series ever; its just a stunner, and great great fun. And definitely made for adults! The fatal flaw in the story is that it ultimately makes absolutely no sense for the strong-willed and capable lead character to be in such relentless pursuit to repossess an ex-spouse who clearly isn't worth anything, but its a wild ride while it lasts. I am so happy that I taped it :)

This is some of the best story-telling and acting ever to be seen on the small screen(or the big screen for that matter). A drama with a lot of dark and dry humor. We identify with Ruth, the main character, so thoroughly that we cheer her on as she devises her retribution against her betraying husband and his perfect mistress. But as we watch Ruth take control of her life and we relish her complicated revenge, we become more and more disturbed by the extreme methods she uses. I don't remember when I've encountered another character who was so completely compelling and repelling at the same time. The movie is somewhat slow to start and slow paced, but every minute of this 6 hour mini-series is worth watching. Those of us who were prepared with a vcr are very lucky in that this will not be broadcast very often, nor is it a likely candidate to be released on video.