(mild spoiler)
This looked promising a strong cast and a storyline about love and friendship destroyed by a rape. The characters were nice middle-class people people like us. Paul Rhys plays David, a `rising junior' Barrister in Chambers in Leeds, very much like those depicted in "North Square". Catherine Quentin plays his wife Beth, a former solicitor now looking after their three cute children in their attractively renovated (if you like primary colours) Victorian mansion. Also at Chambers is Beth's best friend Alison (Clare Holman), also well housed but who is having a tougher time bringing up two equally cute children on her own after her husband (Peter O'Brien) has left.
One night, after some law society function, David, stone cold sober (now that's odd) drops Beth off at home and takes a very sozzled Alison to her place nearby. Ex-hubby is the babysitter but he soon leaves. What then takes place, according to Alison, is that David rapes her. He, after initially denying all, admits to consensual sex (the DNA test is conclusive funny he didn't appreciate that at the start) but denies the rape.
Needless to say Alison's allegation has a devastating effect on both families, although there is only a muffled reaction in Chambers, where the Head suggests Alison move `temporally' to another Set. Beth finds it particularly hard; instinctively she knows David probably did it, but he charms her into returning to their house and helping his defence.
The drama is played out both in and outside the courtroom. Ironically Alison, at the time of the incident with David, was in the middle of cross-examining to destroy the credibility of a woman alleging that her estranged husband had raped her. I was rather surprised at the lengths defence counsel were allowed to go in attacking rape complainants on the basis of their prior sexual history; we have had tight limits on this in NSW (and I think all other Australian jurisdictions). Is England still back in the Stone (the adultress) Age?
I thought the most interesting thing in the film was Paul Rhys' performance as David. I was very impressed by his performance as the dignified aristocratic dropout Stringham in `A Dance to the Music of Time.' Here he is playing another witty and charming person, but one lacking in noble qualities, and further one who has risen from the lower classes. Asked by Beth at one point what he believes in, he says `winning'. Seeing she is not impressed he says `no, us.' She is even less impressed. (I have to say I didn't like the implication that one who has risen in the world has to jettison their values on the way.) Somehow though, Rhys manages to inject some nuance into a role which could very easily have been a caricature. Caroline Quentin, who (Mild Spoiler) I had associated with light roles such as Maddy in `Jonathan Creek', also did a very good job as Beth.
The scriptwriters (not given in IMdb's very incomplete credits list) were the very experienced Stephen Mallatratt and Jan McVerry, who shortly afterwards wrote the latest TV versions of Galsworthy's`The Forsyte Saga'. In those productions there was a much more sympathetic rapist, Soames Forsyte, who was, after all, only exercising his rights as a man of property (before, of course, the law was changed). In this drama the scriptwriters try to keep us guessing as to the editorial line until the last few scenes, when a strong feminist perspective appears, but in fact David's ambiguous manner is a giveaway. I did like his line at the end `thank God for the courts.' In his world God is definitely male.
This looked promising a strong cast and a storyline about love and friendship destroyed by a rape. The characters were nice middle-class people people like us. Paul Rhys plays David, a `rising junior' Barrister in Chambers in Leeds, very much like those depicted in "North Square". Catherine Quentin plays his wife Beth, a former solicitor now looking after their three cute children in their attractively renovated (if you like primary colours) Victorian mansion. Also at Chambers is Beth's best friend Alison (Clare Holman), also well housed but who is having a tougher time bringing up two equally cute children on her own after her husband (Peter O'Brien) has left.
One night, after some law society function, David, stone cold sober (now that's odd) drops Beth off at home and takes a very sozzled Alison to her place nearby. Ex-hubby is the babysitter but he soon leaves. What then takes place, according to Alison, is that David rapes her. He, after initially denying all, admits to consensual sex (the DNA test is conclusive funny he didn't appreciate that at the start) but denies the rape.
Needless to say Alison's allegation has a devastating effect on both families, although there is only a muffled reaction in Chambers, where the Head suggests Alison move `temporally' to another Set. Beth finds it particularly hard; instinctively she knows David probably did it, but he charms her into returning to their house and helping his defence.
The drama is played out both in and outside the courtroom. Ironically Alison, at the time of the incident with David, was in the middle of cross-examining to destroy the credibility of a woman alleging that her estranged husband had raped her. I was rather surprised at the lengths defence counsel were allowed to go in attacking rape complainants on the basis of their prior sexual history; we have had tight limits on this in NSW (and I think all other Australian jurisdictions). Is England still back in the Stone (the adultress) Age?
I thought the most interesting thing in the film was Paul Rhys' performance as David. I was very impressed by his performance as the dignified aristocratic dropout Stringham in `A Dance to the Music of Time.' Here he is playing another witty and charming person, but one lacking in noble qualities, and further one who has risen from the lower classes. Asked by Beth at one point what he believes in, he says `winning'. Seeing she is not impressed he says `no, us.' She is even less impressed. (I have to say I didn't like the implication that one who has risen in the world has to jettison their values on the way.) Somehow though, Rhys manages to inject some nuance into a role which could very easily have been a caricature. Caroline Quentin, who (Mild Spoiler) I had associated with light roles such as Maddy in `Jonathan Creek', also did a very good job as Beth.
The scriptwriters (not given in IMdb's very incomplete credits list) were the very experienced Stephen Mallatratt and Jan McVerry, who shortly afterwards wrote the latest TV versions of Galsworthy's`The Forsyte Saga'. In those productions there was a much more sympathetic rapist, Soames Forsyte, who was, after all, only exercising his rights as a man of property (before, of course, the law was changed). In this drama the scriptwriters try to keep us guessing as to the editorial line until the last few scenes, when a strong feminist perspective appears, but in fact David's ambiguous manner is a giveaway. I did like his line at the end `thank God for the courts.' In his world God is definitely male.
