Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Maxine Peake, Charles Dance, Freddie Fox, Tanya Reynolds, Zak Adams, Peter McDonald, Perry Fitzpatrick, Kenneth Collard.
The freedom to rejoice in a life that you wish to live is one that is forever ongoing, and one that was hard fought against by the patriarchal dominated church which sought to keep women under the subjugation of men for thousands of years, and which has ridiculously managed to keep some semblance of authoritarian control over a woman’s body and her mind in much of the world even in a modern age of enlightenment and with feminism very much offering sovereignty, a sanctity of independence delivered.
We can look back over a hundred years of progress and understand that it is still not enough, that the balance of power in large quarters of society still comes the dictation of scripture and religious dogma being misread, misleading even, the faithful of any religion; however the embryonic seeds of deliverance can be traced to a time, certainly in England, when the upheaval of Civil war created a chasm of so called spirituality, of the realisation and the shock waves of the murder of 16th century poet Anne Askew at the hands of the state were still being felt by women who were forced to obey their husbands or face consequences that no person, no woman, should ever be subjected to.
Written and directed by Thomas Clay, Fanny Lye Deliver’d encourages the fire and fury of feminist literature, cinema and art to be heard, and by placing the film during a period in which a woman was to be seen as property, as nothing more than chattel and having no more sense of freedom as the family’s horse, prized lovingly by Charles Dance’s John Lye, and to which there was only duty, honour and obedience to be expected in return for a food and a roof over her head, the scene is set for modern day discussion on just how much still has to change; if in some way the freedom so rightly fought for has become a chain still being pulled upon by a patriarchal society, only not so tight.
With wonderful attention to detail in terms of costume, of the remoteness of society and a dialogue which speaks loudly of deliverance attained by universal education rather than being taught by the church and the landowners, Fanny Lye Deliver’d is a period piece with a difference, there is no sense of gilded morality or amusing tale of posturing to be found as with the literature than followed in the next two centuries that followed, just a simple, honest fact, that a woman’s voice must be heard, must be respected, that the devilment of the scriptures is to be found as damaging the worth of women and demonising men to whom blessed their sex as a sign of God, and natural supremacy.
With two of the heavyweights of the British acting fraternity giving incredible performances, Charles Dance and Maxine Peake, the film stands with sincerity in absolute terms, and with Freddie Fox giving one of his most leading insights captured on film, Fanny Lye Deliver’d is a generous piece of cinema, forthright in its austerity and overflowing with scenic symbolism. A film which adds much to the discussion of feminism, of equality for all with or without religion.
Ian D. Hall