Maxine Peake stars in a profoundly moving drama based on the real diaries of Anne Lister: a landowning woman who defied the conventions of her 19th century life to great scandal…for Anne was a lesbian. Her affair with ‘soul mate’ Marianna Belcombe keeps society guessing but when it is announced that Marianna is to be married to the older, corpulent and wealthy Charles Lawton, Anne is distraught. But while Ann is a proud, strong and supportive partner in a time when lesbianism just isn’t tolerated, can Anne’s feelings for her ever match those she has for Marianna? Set in the small, elite world of high society, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister is an inspiring story of ‘the first modern lesbian.’
Though modest by the Merchant-Ivory gold standard, production values are handsome enough. In particular, the Yorkshire countryside (Lister was an avid walker of woods) looks gorgeous. Performances are expert. Some particularly interesting aspects of Lister’s real-life biography are omitted (though not in a shorter BBC docu companion piece, “The Real Anne Lister”). For one thing, she was an early conqueror of several mountains in the Pyrenees. – Variety
Starring Maxine Peake, Anna Madeley, Susan Lynch.
Note: Not suitable for children. Anne Lister (1791–1840) was a well-off Yorkshire landowner, diarist, mountaineer and traveller. Throughout her life she kept diaries which chronicled the details of her daily life, including her lesbian relationships, her financial concerns, her industrial activities and her work improving Shibden Hall. Her diaries contain more than 4,000,000 words and about a sixth of them—those concerning the intimate details of her romantic and sexual relationships—were written in code. The code, derived from a combination of algebra and Ancient Greek, was deciphered in the 1930s. Lister is often called “the first modern lesbian” for her clear self-knowledge and openly lesbian lifestyle. Called “Fred” by her lover and “Gentleman Jack” by Halifax residents, she suffered from harassment for her sexuality, and recognised her similarity to the Ladies of Llangollen, whom she visited.