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6/10
Frills and murder.
Sleepin_Dragon17 September 2023
Did Madeline Smith kill her former lover Emile L'Angelier? Coming from a wealthy background, Smith's entanglement with The Frenchman was considered scandalous, she certainly had a clear notice after he threatened to expose their affair.

Again, it isn't a favourite of mine, but there are several points of interest here, the most important of all being the clash of the clashes, the very idea of someone like Emile spending time alone with Maddy, let alone having an intimate relationship with her, shocking.

The scandal did quite literally destroy the family, amazing to think how obsessed with the class system people were.

They certainly got the visuals spot on, for the era the costumes look terrific, look out for those wonderful crinolines and frills, the sets look great too.

A nice cast assembled here, Sienna Guillory and Vivien Heilbron are pretty good.

6/10.
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5/10
Dearest Pet
Prismark109 December 2023
The case of Scottish socialite Madeleine Smith was regarded the trial of the century.

The 22 year old was accused of poisoning her older lover Pierre Emile L'Angelier with arsenic slipped into his cocoa.

They had a secret relationship for a number of years and exchanged explicit love letters. However he was a lowly warehouse clerk and her father would never approve of the marriage.

When Madeline got engaged to someone more suitable, Pierre threatened to expose the affair. He tried to control her through blackmail. He ended up dead instead.

The case aroused scandal, there were lurid headlines but Madeleine Smith got off with a not proven verdict. The notoriety never died down even after the verdict.

Rather unfortunate then that this was a dry adaptation of the story. It lacked the disrepute the drama needed.
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