Glad you liked the Nan/Kitty/Diana pictures Amanda!
I found them on a Keeley Hawes fansite.
Again, wish Flo was in the mix as well.
So, now I actually quite like that segment (even though it's not a positive segment, so to speak). I love the way Diana's portrayed and I think it's important in illustrating a certain kind of lesbian sexuality (seen in Diana's attitude) that's really all about lust... and not about true love or living happily ever after. It just makes lesbian culture seem very complex.
I was not very crazy about the Diana part of TTV the first few times I watched the movie either. I went back and watched it a few more times after I got the book and read the story. Diana seemed so much fuller as a character to me at that point. Anna Chancellor was a splendid choice for the role – she brought such a flare to the character.
As you say, Diana shows a completely different facet of the sapphist lifestyle of that era. Diana fascinates me – she is a woman of bountiful means, a Victorian too… her lesbian nature does not eradicate her classist arrogance. Her wealth and position play a vital role in the story. We know that she had many lovers she took in and discarded in the end; Nan was a good example. Diana is no different from other Victorians in her class (sapphist or not). I was not concerned that she shed a negative light on lesbian culture because at the end of the day, people are just people, whether they are gay or not. She definitely used her ample station/power to get what she wanted from the people around her, whether they were her lovers or her servants (not that there was any difference between those groups, in her case).
I remember the scene at the last Sapphist party Nan would attend… where Diana asked Zena Blake to pull down her drawers for the entertainment of Diana and all her guests. It was a horribly degrading thing to do, but as mistress of the house (as she told Nan), it was in her power to ask that of ‘her girl’. It was interesting to see that none of the guests objected to Diana’s request – in fact, they were more than delighted to subject this helpless maid to such humiliation. Their attitude of looking down on someone simply because s/he is a servant says more to me about their class-structured society than it does their sexuality.
What I appreciate about Diana’s character is her audacity, her openness about her sexuality, her ability to simply live the life she wanted. Her story with Nan was not a love story, far from it, it was based on lust and skewed power dynamics. It was a story line that showed that there isn’t always a happy-ever-after in life’s relationships, whether they be queer or not.
Going back to Flo for a sec... how do you feel about the ending of the TTV mini series? How do you think Nan's family will respond to Flo? I'm sure it would be rough going with Alice. And, I wonder if the revelation about Nan's sexuality will come as a complete shock to the rest of her family. Her parents and brother seem very sweet but seem to be portrayed as rather naive.
I loved the ending of the mini-series (more than the book’s ending in fact). It felt like Nan went full circle – she left her oyster girl’s existence in Whitstable in a journey of self-discovery and she came back with an understanding of her true nature and with a person she loved dearly. It was a happy ending I deeply appreciated.
Flo looked nervous too, didn’t she? Who can blame her? I think that Alice would be the least surprised to see Nan with a female partner, simply because she had known for some time, she didn’t approve, but she knew. Here’s how I picture it…
Nan holds onto Flo’s sweaty hand tightly, reassuring her all the way home. They get there, get in… hugs all around. Her parents are thrilled to see her home again; there is a tear in her father’s eyes. Nan first introduces Flo as her friend… Alice is a little lukewarm and the least enthused by the reunion, but she smiles nonetheless. They sit down for a while and chat about the trip from London while Nan’s mother fusses as she organizes something for them to eat.
When there are enough snacks on the table to feed an army, her mother takes a seat and Nan tells them the real reason she came home to visit. She comes out and tells them that she and Florence are sweethearts, have been for some time now.
Alice walks out in a huff, shaking her head, afraid of how their parents would take it. Her brother, Davy’s and her father’s mouths hang open; her mother sighs a deep shaky sigh and says that she always knew that there was something a bit queer about her daughter (in fact, she started having her suspicions when Nan got all googly-eyed and defensive when the subject of Kitty came up those years ago).
There are tears in her mother’s eyes…Nan goes to her and tries to hug her…she hesitates and lets Nan embrace her; her husband mumbles something like.. ‘I don’t think I heard her right, did I?’ Flo sits quietly, her head slightly lowered. Davy says, ‘But you were with Freddie all that time, Nan, surely you can’t be…’…what an emotional day it is in the Astley household! …
One day before they have to leave for London again, Alice comes around … She tells Nan that she still doesn’t approve of her ways, but thinks that Flo is lovely and caring (she also adds that she never liked Kitty and is pleased that her sister found someone grounded who does not dress in gentlemen’s clothes or wear her hair short)…
In the end, a hundred tears and questions later, Nan’s family tells her that they love her, and wish her & Flo all the love and happiness (and luck) in the world (for they would need all the good wishes they could get)…
Okay, I got carried away with my silly story there..
Your turn, what do you think happened after the end we saw?
