Fanny Lye Deliver’d

Cert: N/A; now streaming

Three years’ delay doesn’t usually bode well for films but Thomas

Clay’s Fanny Lye Deliver’d has not suffered from the budgetary constraints that got it stuck in post production. It’s a historical drama with modern, indeed eternal sensibilities and while it slows in places, it is atmospheric and intriguing and features superb performances.

In 1657 Oliver Cromwell’s England is a tough place after war and under puritanical religious fervour. Fanny (the always reliable Maxine Peake) is married to devout and devoted Cromwellian John (Charles Dance) who believes that sparing the rod will spoil not only the child, a quiet son called Arthur (Zak Adams), but the wife — both are beaten often. Fanny’s survival thus far has seen her learn to adapt, to submit, to obey and to hide her intelligence.

Two strangers Thomas (Freddie Fox) and Rebecca (Tanya Redmond) arrive claiming to have been robbed on the road. Hearing that Thomas too fought for Cromwell, John allows them to stay a while but then a ‘popinjay’ sheriff (Peter McDonald) arrives and suggests the strangers are not what they seem. The film takes surprisingly gory, but no doubt accurate, turns at times as it wanders through genres to tell the tale of Fanny Lye’s delivery from oppression. I enjoyed it.