The Crimson Petal and the White aired in England as a BBC miniseries and received rave reviews from The Times which called it "the outstanding drama of the year" and The Daily Telegraph which heralded it as "compelling, beautifully shot, and vividly acted." This psychological thriller based on Michel Faber's bestselling 2002 novel won three Royal Television Society awards. The DVD 2-disc set from Acorn Media includes four episodes and bonus features.
Welcome to Victorian London where the gap between the rich and the poor is enormous. One of the few places where those with power, status, and wealth encounter those barely scraping by is the house of prostitution. It's been estimated that in London during this time period, there was one whore for every twelve men.
William Rackham (Chris O'Dowd) is the son of a wealthy businessman who dreams of becoming a writer but when that does not pan out, he takes over Rackham Perfumeries. He finds success mass producing cheap products, including lavender soap.
In a dark and noisy pub, he hears accolades about Sugar (Romola Garai), a 19-year-old prostitute. When he meets and talks with her, Rackham is astonished at her literary knowledge and that they share a low opinion of Matthew Arnold. After having sex with Sugar, this entrepreneur returns home to his ailing wife Agnes (Amanda Hale). She has mental problems and is often disoriented. Her doctor (Richard E. Grant) recommends she be kept in bed and drugged; during his visits he regularly sexually molests her. Agnes becomes convinced that a woman she sees on the street from her window is a guardian angel who has come to release her from her home prison.
But it is Sugar who gains release from poverty and the tyranny of her mother, Mrs. Castaway (Gillian Anderson), who runs the whorehouse and forced her into prostitution when she was just 13. Sugar's cynicism melts when Rackham sets her up in a luxurious place with windows and natural light. She caters to his continuing sexual obsession and uses her spare time to work on a horrific book she is writing about how she would take vengeance on men. When Rackham moves Sugar into his mansion and employs her as his daughter's governess, their relationship takes a turn which neither of them could have predicted.
The Crimson Petal and the White is a dark and macabre psychological thriller that proves once again that the torn and dirty baggage one brings into an intimate relationship of any kind cannot be ignored or taken for granted. Rackham's sexual addiction and his loyalty to class render him inept as a benevolent man. Sugar's feelings of entitlement and her deep-seated hatred of men render her inept as a woman who is transformed by upward mobility in society. The dream of change is not an easy one to pull off.
Special features on the DVD include deleted scenes; interviews with actors Romola Garai and Chris O'Dowd, director Marc Munden, and key crew members; and character biographies.
