This handsome BBC Masterpiece Theatre production toodles along elegantly, all period costumes and posh accents and people being beastly to one another in the most refined way...until it turns so shockingly vicious that you're riveted, unable to believe what you're seeing. The hints were there all along, of course, in this original dangerous liaison, based on the 1748 novel by Samuel Richardson. The virginal Clarissa Harlowe (who'd be obnoxiously virtuous if not for the steely performance of Saskia Wickham) suffers horrendously at the hands of her jealous siblings--all overlooked in their grandfather's will (he left his fortune to Clarissa)--who scheme to marry our heroine to the most hideous clown of an aristocrat they can find (picture a Regency version of Carrot Top). The evil glee with which Clarissa's family disowns and dishonors her only foreshadows the horror to come, as she is forced by circumstance to throw herself upon the mercy of notorious rake Robert Lovelace (a harrowing Sean Bean), who is torn between plotting to pluck her virtue and finding himself becoming genuinely besotted with her. This is the rare period production that is enjoyable as both serious drama and delicious camp...until that aforementioned moment toward the end, when you'll be tempted to start watching all over again in order to appreciate the true darkness of this entire affair. The transfer to DVD of this 1991 production is fine, and bonus materials include outtakes and actors' screen tests. Highly recommended. (M. Johanson)
Clarissa
Acorn, 2 discs, 201 min., not rated, DVD: $39.99 Volume 20, Issue 5
Clarissa
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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