7/10
Great acting but frustrating direction
30 December 2019
The Profumo affair of the 1960s makes for excellent drama - no surprises there, as it is a fascinating story with interesting 'side details' as well. The acting is superb - Norton as Stephen Ward is particularly brilliant, but Sophie Cookson as Keeler and Ben Miles (aka Patrick from Coupling) as Profumo delight as well. The only thing that lets it down is the way they have chosen to tell it. First of all flipping back between the years seems unnecessary and makes it all a bit itty-bitty. Second, although there's nothing wrong with the feminist framing on Keeler's perspective as it keeps the story fresh, the choice to have Keeler narrate the events (saying rather obvious things) makes the whole thing a bit fisted (a shame, as the writing and script the rest of the time is fine). They should have trusted the audience to be able to take in the message without spoon feeding it to them.
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