Tipping the Velvet, Director: Geoffrey Sax

by Denise Noe

First published in May/June, 2007, Volume 4, Issue 2, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies.

Tipping the Velvet, Director: Geoffrey Sax, BBC mini-series, DVD. ASIN: B00011Y1QC.

Set in the 1890s, Tipping the Velvet is an adaptation of Sarah Waters’ debut novel of the same name. The film focuses on its heroine’s exhilarating and tumultuous coming of age in Victorian England.

Episode 1 opens with a beautiful seashore scene. Then we are in an “oyster parlor” and a female voiceover introduces us to the family that runs it. That voice observes, “Open an oyster and it’s like a secret world in there.” The narrator tells us that her own story is similar. She is 18-year-old Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling). She has a beau, Freddy (Benedict Cumberbatch), but senses that something is missing in their relationship.

At a music hall, Nan gets the first glimmer of what that something might be as she watches male impersonator Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes) perform. Nan is enthralled but can only interpret her feelings as admiration. Attending the music hall night after night, she catches Kitty’s attention and is hired to assist with her wardrobe. Soon Kitty recognizes Nan’s potential as a performer and they act together on stage as male impersonators. They become fast friends and their friendship deepens until the eroticism lying just below the surface boils over into a steamy love affair.

In Episode 2, Nan meets Florence Banner (Jodhi May), to whom she feels an immediate attraction – one that Nan recognizes as sexual but does not know if Florence can. After Nan is sexually harassed on the city streets, she goes out attired in a male soldier’s uniform. A man who seems taken in by the outfit approaches her and offers to pay for a sex act. The movie does a reversal on the more usual practice of men dressing as women to prostitute themselves. Dressed as a man, Nan sells fellatio to male customers. 

The drag does not fool everyone. Wealthy Diana Lethaby (Anna Chancellor) takes Nan in as a kept woman. Their affair is sensuously hot but marred by the power imbalance between them.

Episode 3 starts off with Nan battered and bloodied, betrayed once and then betrayed again, and finally wandering the streets in a state physically ragged and psychologically despairing. Things can only go up – and they do in a manner that is satisfying for the viewer as well as for Nan. 

The DVD includes an interesting interview with Sarah Waters and screenwriter Andrew Davies, as well as dramatic stills from the series.

Tipping the Velvet is not for everyone as it is frequently sexually graphic. However, it is an exceptionally well-made program. Movie tricks are used creatively with the film sometimes sped up and other times slowed down, always to good effect to dramatize a mood. The cinematography is vivid, emphasizing rich, primary colors. The script and direction are tight so that not a moment seems wasted. The acting is superb with Rachael Stirling, Keeley Hawes, and Jodhi May especially strong in their pivotal roles. Tipping the Velvet is an unforgettable story of emotional and sensual awakening in the Victorian era.