The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2010)

Too much of everything

Sadly Over-hyped

Just perfect...

Admirable film.

I really did like watching this television movie because it was interesting to see what a real persons life was like back in the 19th century when being a lesbian was a shocking thing to be (rubbish). I have never heard of the real Anne Lister before, I had read about her life on Wikipedia and it was even more grimly in real life then the movie. Her life was full of people talking absolute nonsense about the way she was dressed and how she was harassed many times by dirty men who needed to mind their own business. It must've been scary for Anne even as a landowner! It was too bad during those times about who you should really love and not go for the one you don't love!Anyways back to the film, Maxine Peake did such an amazing performance on Anne Lister. She really did make a great effort being in character and she would just blow you away!I think this movie is definitely something you should give to your partner on Christmas or valentines day!

Anne Lister is a landowner, an entrepreneur and a traveler in 18th and 19th century Yorkshire. Her secret is learnt by others from her four million coded word diary hundreds of years later. The film unveils the mystery, tells her lesbian life and her courage in love and secularism.Anne has an angular face with firm eyes. Dressing in black clothes and hat reflects her masculine character. The whole story narrates the ups and downs of Anne's blazing love life. Her true love is pretty Mariana and their relationship lasts several years. Their kisses, touching and sex make you blush. She wants to be a real couple with Mariana, and live with her for her whole life and take care of her as her husband. But Mariana trifles with Anne's affections. Mariana is closeted and does not want to reveal their relationship to the public. In the end, she marries to an old man. Anne is miserable and heartbroken after she realizes Mariana does not want to be a real couple and live with her. Lovelorn failure does not stop Anne. She has lots of accomplishments in her career, better than many men. She never stops her persistent pursuit for love. Finally, she finds the one who suits her, and they live together. Anne Lister's distinct personality impresses me. The strong lady never shrinks back. She deserves respect and admiration.

Melodramatic, heteroed-down version of the life of a predatory, hairy, self-assured, male- identified 19th century woman of means. I knew nothing of Anne Lister's life, but found this movie patronising from the word go. Watching the nervous though more honest documentary included on the BBC DVD afterwards, confirmed why. The film portrays Lister as a femme, melodramatic woman whose only quirk is to wear black and no makeup. The sex scenes are unconvincing, and great liberty is taken to no doubt make the main character a bit more palatable for mainstream audiences. In the documentary it emerges that Lister was rather arrogant, very butch, shrewd in love and business, and also sported a grey stubble. The film fails to examine what it really must've been like for a lesbian in Lister's position ~ instead we are treated to a flaky tragic love story which might titillate hetero men and women. It feels like the film says 'lesbians are people too, and look they are all hairless and have heteronormative female traits such as big dresses, high-heel shoes and emotional theatrics". What a pity ~ let's hope someone will at some point make a serious film about this fascinating character!

This superb film for TV deserves the widest possible audience: it tells a gripping and true human story that surprises all those like me who thought they know the era of Jane Austen. Maxine Peake acts out of her skin as Anne Lister, the lesbian diarist whose story remained hidden form the wider public until Helen Whitbread's groundbreaking 1992 book. The film is excellent on many levels: for its up-close portrayal of the emotional and sexual lives of (lesbian) women in an era when the concept of such love (and lust) was more or less unknown; for its sure-footed cinematography that creates a just-familiar-enough epoch; and for its wonderful script by Jane English. Apparently it took 18 days to make - unbelievable. Probably the best value drama for the licence money that BBC has ever achieved. Well done to whoever commissioned this. My favourite thing: the great way interior light and 30+something skin tones are worked: women shown as women rather than constructs of the advertising-consumer nexus. My least favourite thing: what happens to Anne's final partner after Anne dies.