The Devil's Whore
The Devil's Whore
| 19 November 2008 (USA)
The Devil's Whore Trailers

Set between the years 1642 and 1660, "The Devil's Whore" charts the progress of the English Civil War through the eyes of the a 17 year old girl, the fictional Angelica Fanshawe.

Reviews
Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie
Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
malmborgimplano-92-599820 Fine acting, good production values and a butt-stupid script characterize this series, which follows the same hoary old formula as any number of women's fictions from the past hundred years or so, notably "Gone With The Wind" and "Forever Amber." The beautiful, free-spirited, lusty heroine plunges recklessly from adventure to adventure and man to man, running smack into famous historical characters at every turn. Please note that the title at the beginning of each episode claiming that this is a true story is a lie. There was never any such person as Angelica Fanshawe, though there actually was a guy named Edward Sexby. It's too bad no one had the idea of eliminating the character of Angelica altogether and just making the series "Sexby" instead.Capaldi doesn't have a whole lot of screen time as Charles I and nothing approaching a coherent character to play, but he pulls it all together nevertheless and creates a memorable figure of quiet authority not that unlike his Cardinal Richelieu in "The Musketeers." His performance makes the execution scene absolutely riveting, despite the thoroughly stupid decision to intercut it with the execution of the fictional Angelica, who's hanged but gets better after Sexby gives her CPR. Did I actually give this thing a 6? I went and changed it to a 5. 5 for Capaldi and others like Andrea Riseborough, John Simm and Dominic West who gave their considerable talents to making this silly spleeb.
steven-222 An amazingly compact narrative packs a remarkable amount of emotion and philosophical musing into a sweeping narrative; this is television that delivers all the satisfactions of the old-fashioned novel.With a title like "The Devil's Whore" we are prepared for a rip-roaring bodice-ripper...and while bodices are indeed ripped...nay, shredded!...there is oh so much more going on here. Love long-denied over decades of tumultuous civil war, labyrinthine tests of loyalty, vengeance played out over decades, and various other devices create a nonstop narrative drive; try coming to the end of one episode without wanting to watch the next one at once. But at the very heart of this story is an inquiry into the deepest questions of existence: who are we amid our fellow humans, what force or forces rule the universe, and what does freedom really mean? A restless intelligence moves through this story, suffusing it with heartbreaking insight.Kudos to the whole cast, to a counter-intuitive musical track, and to the splendid visual sense that informs the whole production.The only thing that stops me from giving 10 stars is a certain dissatisfaction with the ending. Granted, the filmmakers face an almost impossible task to create a moment of transcendence to match all that has come before. Maybe on a second viewing I will change my mind about that.
mampele I wasn't much of a fan of the English Civil War during History lessons at school. It was always difficult trying to decide which side to support. The glamorous, party loving Cavaliers or the serious, democratically minded, fair but boring round-heads....Watching The Devil's Whore I found my self switching sides again. However, kudos to Peter Flannery for making this period of history really interesting. This difficult period has never really been covered in movies or TV.The whole cast is absolutely amazing. Peter Capaldi is great as a doomed king, Michael Fassbender is intense and stunning as Rainsborough but my favourites are John Simm and Andrea Riseborough. Both act their socks off and make me want to keep watching. The chemistry, sparring and respect between Sexby and Angelica is fascinating! Almost perfect...
littlemonk This is a confusing historical period; the cavaliers were not bad or good the roundheads were not good or bad. Neither was there a single cause - religion, unfair tax and national debt, autocracy and trying to debase parliamentary powers, (sounds like Gordon Brown!!) . Puritains, church of England, Catholics, Levellers the causes were numerous. Nor can we say it was aristocracy against common people. In the end Oliver Cromwell had his head cut of his dead body, and the people welcomed back Charles II with open arms.This series is very pretty, but it is going to fast to set up the story properly. If you want to see a period romp, it may be enjoyable. If you want to learn about history and the lessons we can learn today from it, read a good book.