Wednesday 7 September 2022

Consuming Passion (2008 Dan Zeff)

A rather neatly worked out tribute to Mills & Boon on their 100th anniversary, via three intertwining stories.

In the first, we face the birthing pains of the new publishing house, its owners played by Patrick Kennedy and Danny Mays, and the latter's relationship with his new wife Jodie Whittaker. Then in the 1970s, repressed secretary Olivia Colman develops an unreciprocated fancy for surgeon Patrick Baladi (his mate played by Adam James), turns to writing a M&B type novel as an outlet. It's published. Then the glue that cleverly holds it all together is in modern day an English Lit professor (Emilia Fox) is teaching M&B as part of the course, thereby serving as a way of analysing the history of the brand and what it's expressing from a feminist viewpoint - and in a clever meta story, she receives the initially unwanted attraction of a randy student (O-T Fagbenle), which she eventually welcomes as passion she's not getting with her partner - there's a perfectly on-brand sex scene in the Uni library!

It was written by Emma Fox and produced for the BBC.




We hadn't seen it since its first broadcast. Photographed by Balazs Bolygo.

No comments:

Post a Comment