Good concept, poorly executed.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Blistering performances.

I really enjoyed the movie but it was rather sad y'know. It would give you great shocks like the pauper Selina Dawes betraying her lover Margaret Prior who is an aristocrat. Then Margaret committing suicide in the end because of the betrayal and the fact, her family wasn't very supportive with her choices. I felt like I would give the mother a slap across the face, she was such a horrible vile woman to her daughter! The brother wasn't even a help either, he just thought he could own everything the family owns! He was pure selfish too!The movie also makes you angry too for the people that hurt Margaret. I thought that Selina one was better then that. She was such a cow, I'll never get over the fact she just took everything belonging to Margaret!Very good story which reflects life during the 1800's, well done BBC!

Having just read the book, I was really looking forward to the film adaptation.What a disappointment. The film felt extremely rushed, with no development of the characters. I did not for one minute believe the "affinity" between Selena and Margaret and so, consequently, felt nothing about the ending. Which did NOT do justice to the book. More time should have been spent showing the relationship between Margaret and her family members, for instance. And more emphasis on Selena's previous life and Peter Quick. And, lastly, more about that awful prison and what the women had to endure.Read the book if you want "the real deal" and to be suspended in excitement, suspense and terrific writing!

I decided to stay up and watch Affinity due to being " a gripping dramatisation" and "full of feints and foreboding" as promised by this weeks RadioTimes Magazine....I can say without hesitation that I was not disappointed.The story was powerful and full of human emotion. I felt that Zoe Tapper who plays the women's prison inmate/spiritualist Selina Dawes and Anna Madeley as upper-class lady Magaret who together form a bond of strange depths are absolutely fantastic as their characters. Full of emotion, foreboding and uncertainty until the very end. Nothing can prepare you for the final twist.I have never read the book unlike the previous reviewer and to be honest I am not sure I am going to now because I would not want it to change the impression I was left with following the film....so powerful I dreamt of it the same night.Watch it or you really are missing out.Richard

I checked the IMDb rating of this film before watching it. 5.7 - not too promising. But as I subsequently watched it, I found myself more and more surprised at this low rating, because this was well-produced and well-acted and would probably, I thought, get a 7 from me, at the very least. The plot was intriguing and exciting and understated in an appealing way. Which is why the nonsensical ending was so disappointing.I haven't read the book, but I understand I have the exact same problem with the film's ending (different from the book's) as do those who've read it. It's a common theme in stories of the supernatural that it is eventually revealed to be a hoax (Dean R. Koontz, anyone?), so while it was not surprising, it would have been a great deal more refreshing if it had turned out to be real. But, it was deception. It was all intended to deceive. The very core of the plot, the whole concept and the entire point was deception. Hence the story undermined its own plot by having Selina nurture regrets and have feelings for Margaret after all. Because Selina and Vigers could only have pulled something like that off if they were really, really committed to these fraudulent schemes, and worked together with complete trust between them. Therefore Selina's regrets just don't make sense.The story, at the end, in my opinion, should have focused on the relationship and genuine feelings between Selina and Ruth Vigers, which would *actually* have made this into a proper love story after all - except of course for the a bit more than slightly silly fact that they were lesbian rapists (uh - a bit of a stretch in any case) and thus the bad guys. But I could actually have looked beyond this because of the era in which it took place; an era where lesbians could not openly live out their heartfelt lifestyle, but had to find very alternative and creative ways of doing so.Anyway, the "spirit rapes" being their chief motivation made the whole plot rather dumb, and after that revelation how on earth are we supposed to care for these characters? So, the IMDb rating is pretty accurate after all. A shame.6 out of 10.