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Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's 1890s Victorian England. Nancy Astley (Rachael Stirling) works at the family seaside restaurant as an oyster girl. She falls completely upon seeing vaudeville actress Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes) who dresses as a man on stage. She leaves her boyfriend Freddy (Benedict Cumberbatch) to be with Kitty. The sisterhood turns into a lesbian affair as Nan joins Kitty on stage. Later, Nan catches Kitty in bed with manager Walter Bliss who then get married. Nan starts dressing as a man and working the streets. She's taken with the innocent Florence (Jodhi May). Wealthy widower Diana Lethaby (Anna Chancellor) takes her off the streets to be her lover. Nan gets tired of the life and gets into a fight with Lethaby protecting the maid Zena Blake (Sally Hawkins). Nan gets thrown out onto the streets. She finds a colder Florence with a baby living with her brother Ralph Banner (Hugh Bonneville).The first part sets it up as a lesbian love story. It doesn't follow through on that front. It turns into a melodrama of the Victorian London's lesbian scene. In fact, Kitty gets sidelined for the other two parts. The first part led me down one path and then I got thrown a bit going down the other path. This unusual world is fascinating. Rachael Stirling is quite compelling going from innocent ingénue to rundown weariness. This is an interesting TV mini-series.

The book is a must read, just as much this adaptation of it being a must see. The mini-series is remarkably true to the book, even with some changes and trimmings like Florence being not as forthright as in the book and the Kitty's crisis after she's heckled during a performance being (somewhat unwisely) skipped, but they don't hinder things at all. Tipping the Velvet(2002) stands fabulously on its own and has so much to recommend, you don't even need to read the book to love this mini-series. The production values are both beautiful and vivid, the costumes, hair and make-up positively take you back to the 1980s, the parlours are opulent, the seaside nostalgic and it is in the music hall moments where the mini-series is most vivid. The photography is just as lush with occasional moments of overblown editing. The music has a haunting undercurrent as well as understated beauty and swelling richness, anyone familiar with music hall music will be delighted at the selection chosen. The script is compact and concise, all the essentials are there and even with the trimmings have their full impact. You are really taken to the Victorian London world, with the contradictions(some quirky, some not), views and beliefs and social class differences. The sex scenes are explicit but also splendidly sensual, and the mini-series shows a lot of depth to characterisation with no signs of cliché or misogyny(considering what Tipping the Velvet is about there was a danger of that). You certainly do fully believe the relationships and chemistry between the characters(like with Nan and Kitty rehearsing together), and the gender politics explored here and in the book are truthful and subtle. The story is funny, poignant and thrilling in equal measure(particularly the final episode), all three episodes beautifully paced, slightly slow start but picks up very quickly. Rachael Stirling gives a stunningly powerful performance, that covers all sensualities and nuanced emotions of Nan's character and Keeley Hawes has never been more intoxicating than here. Anna Chancellor is imperiously scary while Jodhi May approaches Florence with real grace without falling into too-good-to-be-true category. In conclusion, fabulous and not one to ignore or forget. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I'm doing a thesis on blurring the boundaries: the female cross dresser and am using Tipping the Velvet the book as my main text, any comments on gender and sexual identity, gender and sexual confusion, gender as a performance, gender as a fiction, gender imagery, cross-dressing as an erotic fantasy and as revolution, the effect of the male costume etc etc would be much appreciated! But a bit off the point has anyone seen Sergio Toledo's 1987 film Vera? Its about a young lesbian possibly transsexual cross dresser..I'm dying to see it because I think it'd be really helpful...Does anyone know where I might get a copy of it? I've tried amazon and a few other sites but no luck...

Both the book and the film are excellent in their own right. They do differ slightly but that enhances and not detracts from what is an excellent script and acting. The historical atmosphere, the young girl looking for love, the amazing background of music hall and the voyage into the lesbian world of London early twentieth century make this an exceptional movie. Andrew Davies as the scriptwriter excels himself as he writes this lesbian love story with such sensitivity. Rachael Sterling and Keeley Hawes are both excellent actresses and give these parts their best. The rest of the cast are very good. If there was higher than 10 out of 10 I would give it!