There's a lot crammed into this 90-minute teleplay and that's its downfall. The factual account of a mesmerizing news story about the availability of a so-called 'obscene publication' is reduced to the highlights of the trial. The fictional romance that runs parallel to it isn't explored thoroughly enough to be satisfying.
First the good... the acting, actors, and settings. Rafe Spall and Louise Delamere are riveting in their scenes. The miserable and contemptuous majesty of the British judicial system of 1960 is also magnificently reproduced. The jurors are fun to watch - even if they do tend to overplay their hands.
Kenneth Cranham and Claire Bloom are wheeled in to tell the whole saga as a flashback... which isn't really needed and just chews up valuable time away from the two dramas going on. Also, neither are convincing in their attempts to display spontaneous interviews.
You wouldn't have thought it from watching this film, but the obscenity trial was hugely important in 1960. Oh, sure... we're told that it is but still the whole magnificent battle between Penguin Paperbacks and a stuffy, cloistered ruling class is reduced to being a backdrop to the steamy affair of two of the jurors.
Helena is a wealthy, older, sophisticated woman going through a divorce. She ropes young Keith into an extramarital affair and develops feelings for him in the few short days they are together. Keith, on the other hand, is an office clerk and finally has his mind opened by the book (Lady Chatterley's Lover) and his new mistress.
Unfortunately, the stories overlap and interfere with each other in a distorted way. It's possible that the affair between the two jurors is a contemporary metaphor for the subject matter of the book... if so it's a rather hamfisted attempt to conflate what could have been two good TV movies. In other words - it's trying to be too clever.
There's a lot of swearing and a good amount of both male and female nudity but this story needs it. (Spall's wobbly bottom offers up one of the few moments of relief!) The inclusion of the wobbly bottom and other bits, plus the harsh language are pertinent to the story. They help to convey the scandalous nature of the trial and the attitudes of a generation of Victorian thinking elitists who served to control what the British were and were not allowed to see.
Although this review sounds negative, the movie is still a worthwhile drama to see... but you may come away feeling that the whole affair is rushed and doesn't do either of the two stories much justice.
