Another Life is based on a true story. Set in Edwardian London, it is the colourful and intensely moving account of Edith Thompson, a woman involved in an affair and wrongly accused of the murder of her husband, a case which became a major ’cause celebre’ of its time.
A scandalous murder case that was the talk of England in the 1920s is brought to the screen in this period drama based on fact. In 1913, Edith Graydon (Natasha Little) was a young woman living with her family — good-natured father (Michael Bertenshaw), emotionally distant mother (Imelda Staunton), and shy younger sister (Rachael Stirling) — in a fading middle-class neighborhood in London. While not especially bright or ambitious, Edith wanted more out of life than her family’s situation would provide, and with this in mind she accepted the marriage proposal of her boyfriend Percy Thompson (Nick Moran). While Percy was a bit better off than Edith’s family, he was not an especially interesting or exciting partner, and after several years Edith began to grow restless with their marriage. Long regarded as something of a flirt, in 1921 Edith renewed her friendship with Freddy Bywaters (Ioan Gruffudd), a good-looking and worldly former beau who had just returned to England after serving in the Queen’s Navy. Edith and Freddy were not destined to remain just friends for long, and as they began to enter into a passionate affair, Edith began writing a series of letters to her lover in which she confided her ardor for Freddy, her fatigue with Percy — and her belief that murdering her husband would solve a great many problems. Shot in 1999, Another Life did not receive a theatrical release until 2001, when it arrived in British theaters and earned enthusiastic reviews for Natasha Little’s performance as Edith. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Ilford, October 1922: Percy Thompson is fatally stabbed by Freddy Bywaters, his wife Edith’s lover and the couple’s former lodger. The subsequent murder trial of both Edith and Bywaters was a media sensation and the judgment (she was hanged) so controversial that the Home Office closed the case files for 100 years. The focus here is on an independent-minded woman who didn’t fit with the bourgeois mores of her time: a would-be free spirit who, as a milliner’s book-keeper, earned more than her husband, and fantasised about killing him when she took a lover. Natasha Little’s sterling performance combines the cowed suburbanite and the lusty daydreamer, making Edie as captivating as she needs to be for the film’s emotional pay-off. There are, however, a few sticky moments. The visualisation of Edith’s homicidal musings lacks the necessary subtle delineation of fantasy/reality, and writer/director Goodhew’s deft way with dialogue sometimes deserts him when there’s a point to prod home. Still, accomplished support from Moran’s dull-stick husband and Wilkinson’s mercurial milliner earn a measure of goodwill, and the rich material spurs an overriding sense of injustice. – Time Out London
Starring Natasha Little, Nick Moran, Ioan Gruffudd, Tom Wilkinson.
Note: Not suitable for children.