ctomvelu1 Very slow-moving Victorian/Edwardian style melodrama about a high-strung Jodie Foster type who, after her father dies, begins to pay visits to a women's prison with the intention of helping the inmates. Instead, she -- on the rebound from an affair with a girlfriend who has recently married her brother -- falls head over heels for a young woman who claims to be clairvoyant but clearly is a charlatan. The two make plans to run away to Italy together. The first half of this TV movie plays like a Henry James story, such as TURN OF THE SCREW. The second half has a much more modern sensibility to it. And like any modern thriller, it includes a twist ending. As you can see, this was not my cup of tea, but I gave it a reasonably high score for pristine production values and solid acting by all involved. I suspect the average American will not be able to sit through the whole thing. Impressionable types of the British persuasion are, I suspect, likely to be its best audience. By the way, a quick-cut scene at the very beginning betrays the ending, so beware.

Cain Aldred I decided to stay up and watch Affinity due to being " a gripping dramatisation" and "full of feints and foreboding" as promised by this weeks RadioTimes Magazine....I can say without hesitation that I was not disappointed.The story was powerful and full of human emotion. I felt that Zoe Tapper who plays the women's prison inmate/spiritualist Selina Dawes and Anna Madeley as upper-class lady Magaret who together form a bond of strange depths are absolutely fantastic as their characters. Full of emotion, foreboding and uncertainty until the very end. Nothing can prepare you for the final twist.I have never read the book unlike the previous reviewer and to be honest I am not sure I am going to now because I would not want it to change the impression I was left with following the film....so powerful I dreamt of it the same night.Watch it or you really are missing out.Richard

sarastro7 I checked the IMDb rating of this film before watching it. 5.7 - not too promising. But as I subsequently watched it, I found myself more and more surprised at this low rating, because this was well-produced and well-acted and would probably, I thought, get a 7 from me, at the very least. The plot was intriguing and exciting and understated in an appealing way. Which is why the nonsensical ending was so disappointing.I haven't read the book, but I understand I have the exact same problem with the film's ending (different from the book's) as do those who've read it. It's a common theme in stories of the supernatural that it is eventually revealed to be a hoax (Dean R. Koontz, anyone?), so while it was not surprising, it would have been a great deal more refreshing if it had turned out to be real. But, it was deception. It was all intended to deceive. The very core of the plot, the whole concept and the entire point was deception. Hence the story undermined its own plot by having Selina nurture regrets and have feelings for Margaret after all. Because Selina and Vigers could only have pulled something like that off if they were really, really committed to these fraudulent schemes, and worked together with complete trust between them. Therefore Selina's regrets just don't make sense.The story, at the end, in my opinion, should have focused on the relationship and genuine feelings between Selina and Ruth Vigers, which would *actually* have made this into a proper love story after all - except of course for the a bit more than slightly silly fact that they were lesbian rapists (uh - a bit of a stretch in any case) and thus the bad guys. But I could actually have looked beyond this because of the era in which it took place; an era where lesbians could not openly live out their heartfelt lifestyle, but had to find very alternative and creative ways of doing so.Anyway, the "spirit rapes" being their chief motivation made the whole plot rather dumb, and after that revelation how on earth are we supposed to care for these characters? So, the IMDb rating is pretty accurate after all. A shame.6 out of 10.

r_landrygan I read the novel first, and was so glued to it that i got through it in the matter of a weekend. when i went to see the film i was not expecting to be as impressed as i was through reading it, but this adaptation is as magical as the novel and did it the justice it deserved. it is they type of film that can be watched time and time again without losing its appeal. i would recommend it to anyone, regardless of whether they like period dramas or not, because it is not the average period drama - it is a film that transcends time, and will reach some part of every person. personally i would go and watch it innumerable times if i could, and cannot wait for the release of the DVD.