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Clip description
The growing attraction between Brenton (John Waters) and Delie (Sigrid Thornton) is resolved over an evening meal on the otherwise deserted Philadelphia.
Curator’s notes
The spine of the series being the love story, this is a pivotal scene. The fact that it is the steamiest (emotionally speaking) in the entire eight hours indicates the type of audience the series was aimed at. It would hardly justify even a PG rating except that younger viewers might need to be reminded that, by simply being there, Delie was flouting every convention that governed a woman’s behaviour at the time. While nothing much is seen and only one piece of clothing accidentally shed, there is a genuine sensuality about the performances. Important too, is the speech by Brenton that articulates the defining metaphor of the screenplay. The saying ‘Your blood runs with the river‘ has not quite the cachet of the biblical verse that inspired Nancy Cato, but it is appropriate in the context of the adaptation. Director Pino Amenta ensures that the sequence is exquisitely lit then gives his actors the time and space to do their thing. The result is a moment of rare intimacy and a single, sustained closing shot that looks like a Velázquez painting.
