The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister

Plot synopsis:
Anne Lister (Maxine Peake) is a young unmarried woman living in 19th century Yorkshire, at Shibden Hall, with her aunt (Gemma Jones) and uncle (Alan David). The one thing she wants from life is to have someone to love and to share her life with. The person she has in mind is Mariana Belcombe (Anna Madeley), with whom she has been conducting a secret romantic and sexual relationship. The relationship breaks apart when Mariana marries a rich widower named Charles Lawton (Michael Culkin). Depressed, Anne devotes her time to studying. A year after Mariana's wedding, Anne begins to think about finding another lover. She meets a young woman in church named Miss Browne (Tina O'Brien), and they become close friends.
Mariana asks Anne to meet her in a hotel in Manchester. There, the two women talk and Mariana tells Anne that she has missed her, and that one day, when her husband has died, they might live together as widow and companion. She says that her husband is not healthy, and will not have long to live. Anne agrees and they buy wedding rings, to wear around their necks until they can live together. Returning to Shibden, Anne ignores the attention of Miss Browne. A local industrialist named Christopher Rawson (Dean Lennox Kelly) proposes marriage to Anne. She turns him down and says that she could only marry for love. He tells her that people talk about her and call her 'Gentleman Jack.' Later, Anne tells her aunt and uncle that she does not want a husband, that she wants to be independent and intends one day to live with a female companion. Mariana visits her on her birthday and they continue their sexual relationship.
Anne attends a party with her acquaintances, including Rawson and the Lawtons. Mariana sees Anne wearing her wedding ring clearly on show and is unhappy with Anne drawing attention to herself. Anne complains that Charles Lawton is not as unhealthy as Mariana had led her to believe. Rawson sees the two women talking together and has a conversation of his own with Lawton. When Mariana returns to her husband's side, he looks dazed and asks her how Anne loves her. After the party, Mariana writes to Anne and tells her that her husband is suspicious. She tells Anne not to write to her anymore.
Anne's uncle dies and she inherits his wealth. She writes to Mariana, asking her to come to live with her at once. Mariana replies that she will be travelling nearby in a month's time and that they will discuss what to do then. When the time comes, Anne meets Mariana's coach coming along the road and excitedly gets in. Mariana is angry at her drawing attention to herself. She tells Anne that she would rather die than have people know about their relationship. She says that they could be happy together, but would have to live apart. Anne tells her that she wants to spend her life with someone, and leaves.
When Rawson offers to buy some land from Anne to sink a mine, she declines and says that she will mine it herself. She forms a business alliance with Ann Walker (Christine Bottomley), an unmarried acquaintance who has recently inherited her own fortune. They become close friends. Soon the two women are intimidated and harassed by Rawson, now their business rival. For protection, Ann Walker goes to stay at Shibden with Anne. Her aunt (Richenda Carey) comes to tell her niece that people are spreading shocking rumours about the two women. She asks Ann to return home before she ruins her family's name and warns her that she may ruin her chance of finding a husband. Ann tells her that she does not want a husband. When her aunt leaves, she tells Anne that she wants to live at Shibden with her. Anne asks her if she understands what the rumours and insinuations are about. Ann says that she does and makes it clear that she wants them to be together romantically.
Mariana visits Anne and says that she could leave Charles now. She asks if there is still a place for her in Anne's heart, but Anne says that she has found someone she is happy with now, and Mariana leaves. Her husband lives to the age of 89.

Tags: romantic

Review:
"I love and only love the fairer sex .
"I love and only love the fairer sex, and thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any love but theirs." - Anne Lister, Journals, Oct 29, 1820The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2010) (TV) was written by Jane English and directed by James Kent.
This film is a biography, because Anne Lister [1791 - 1840] was, indeed, a historical figure who managed to live her life as a happy and fulfilled lesbian.
Moreover, Ms. Lister did keep voluminous diaries.
Only a small portion of the diaries were actual secret--i.e. written in code.
Anne Lister was so intelligent that the code she devised wasn't deciphered for almost 100 years.
The encoded part of the diary described Anne Lister's romantic and sexual experiences.By a combination of enormous intelligence, class privilege, and unbreakable will, Anne Lister was able to maintain a lesbian life style in a society where such behavior was rarely tolerated.This is an excellent film, with strong performances from all the actors, and an absolutely stellar performance from Maxine Peake as Anne.
Because it's a BBC production, the production values are high and the costumes and location shots are entrancing.
Obviously, this movie was made for TV, so it will work well on the small screen.
However, it is really glorious on the large screen, which is how we saw it.
The film was shown at the Dryden Theatre, as the closing night offering of the terrific ImageOut: Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
Don't miss this movie!.
Testament to womens liberation.
This true story had me glued.
To see how the women in Austen's time could pursue gay relationships and benefit financially just blew me away.
Miss Anne Lister would be considered a 'groomer' in modern society.
But the fact she did what she did back in the early 19th century is a gutsy delight.
With the luxury of being rich she was able to move within society with a liberty untethered by convention.
It just shows how financial independence for women is the true liberation from the tyranny of conventional society.
Big high five to women doing it for themselves!.
Inaccurate depiction of Anne Lister.
I agree with review by Karien Van Der Westhuizen.
I am very disappointed that despite the progress we have nowadays, none of historical movies can honestly depict historical butch/ftm characters as whom they really were.
I am sorry but Anne Lister was not a feminine lesbian as depicted here.
I know that TV shows and movies hate butch lesbian/transgender/intersex characters but to distort historical figures again and again is unforgivable.
Another example is the feminizing of Queen Kristina's hair and dresses in the movie "The Girl King".
Both Queen Kristina and Anne Lister are among the most interesting masculine queer historical figures.
Anne was a butch lesbian/ftm, while Queen Kristina was intersex/butch/ftm but both are re-characterized and suppressed to fit the typical Hollywood-styled cisgenders' feminine-lesbian fantasy.
Having read about real Anne Lister's lives, I find these movies hard to watch.
Otherwise, this movie is fine..
Review of a great film about women.
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..
Homosexual Love.
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..
Good drama I must say!.
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!.
As The Television Film Focuses on Only One Particular Instance of Great Importance in Anne's Life Than the Contents of Her Diaries, Its Should've Had A Different Title.
Love is all the more precious when the chance of finding a substitute is low; therefore, in the case of same sex relationships, finding and keeping love intact is all the more important because there are fewer chances of getting another suitable substitute, especially if such relationships existed in early nineteenth century.
Even in the world today, homosexuals have to take extra precaution while searching for their soul partner, because making a move with the wrong person (a straight person) can ruin well-developed relationships.
Movies, television shows, books and experiences have shown that in many cases, it is the relationship between two people of the same sex that is more mature and more intimate in its understanding of the true importance of love.
Anne Lister cherished the love she had for Mariana because she could not find a suitable substitute for Mariana, while Tib could only think of Anne as her suitable partner.
Mariana on the other hand had options with her, most probably because she was bisexual.
Some reviewers who are calling Anne's relationship 'prurient' only because of the open manner in which she displays her affection towards Mariana (and sexual desires towards other lesbians) forget that she did not have a wide range of options for whom she could display either her love or affection.
Anne basically has greater masculine tendencies such as constant craving for love and affection, and does not really care much what the people around her would say when she eyes/stares/holds hands with her object of affection.
I'm telling you, had this involved a straight couple, people wouldn't have labeled the intimate scenes between the couple as 'prurient'.
Yes, Anne didn't hesitate in openly showing her desperation in holding the relationship together because it would be difficult to part with someone whom she had found presumably after years of fruitless searching.The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister is less about the diaries as the key motif and more about Anne's relationship with three women - Mariana, Tib and Ann - and the particular period in which the relationships existed.
Anne and Mariana love each other dearly but after Mariana decides to marry a rich man named Charles Lawton, Anne decides to forget about her and focus on educating herself and finding another substitute for Mariana.
She tries her luck with a young maiden Miss Browne but soon realizes Browne is really not the girl for her; Anne's friend meanwhile has unrequited affections for Anne.
When Anne gets a letter from Mariana telling her to come over, the two ladies rekindle their affair to Tib's dismay.
It is only later that Ann Walker enters the picture (she is seen in a few scenes before but as a mute spectator) as Anne's business partner (not going to reveal any further for fear of disclosing spoilers).
We also get to watch the family's and the society's reaction towards Anne: while Anne's unmarried uncle and aunt do not mind her daughter's preferences, the society looks with mixed feelings towards her – the men jokingly label Anne the 'Gentleman Jack' while at the same time admire her business acumen and headstrongness, while the women gossip (which is far more painful) but again cannot deny how honest and natural Anne is.Maxine Peake does a fine job channeling the essence of Anne's character, and the job is especially hard because we see Anne for almost the entire time on screen.
She makes Anne's character unique from the other lesbian characters in the movie, which is very crucial for understanding how each character differs in her thinking.
While Anne would be the suitable 'husband' for Mariana, she would be more of a 'wife' had she married an more boisterous Tib; maybe that is the reason why Anne could not see herself with someone like Tib – she wanted to play the man.
Mariana had to keep a balance between her masculine ambitions and feminine tenderness, and she does it very well.
But it is Susan Lynch who is even more impressive in her short role as Tib, especially in the dinner scene where she starts an inappropriate conversation out of jealousy and dejection.
Even Anna Madeley is interesting as the delicate Mariana who while cherishing Anne's affection, cannot think of sacrificing her position in the society for her.
Ann Walker is also good as the shy, suppressed and introverted woman who holds a secret with her.
I have always been quite impressed by the production design in British films – the movies really seem to color and deck their movies very well.
The period costumes are fabulous, giving each character a unique personality; even the hats are carefully chosen according to what is most appropriate for a character.
The television film should have been named something else, only because we hardly find much time devoted to Anne's secret diaries leaving out the central theme of the title itself.
It could have been named 'The Forbidden Love of Anne and Mariana' or something of that sort..
Patronising look at lesbian.
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!