The Clandestine Marriage
Synopsis
However, Betsy's sister Fanny, who has secretly married her father's clerk, Lovewell, by whom she is pregnant, quickly becomes the object of affection not only of Sir John but of his elderly father. Betsy is furious, as is her aunt Mrs Heidleberg, who rules her brother and his household with a rod of iron. Fanny desperately tries to stave off the attentions of both men while her father secretly agrees to exchange one daughter for the other.
Soon the entire company is at loggerheads and cross purposes, Fanny's secret wedding is revealed, and all the while the clock ticks towards the wedding, which must take place if both families are not to loose face.
This exuberant, sexy and cheerfully astringent comedy of errors, where genuine heartache and true love jostle with lust and greed, is set against the glories of an English country house in high summer and is as sharply relevant today as ever.
Details
- Year
- 1999
- Type of project
- Features
- Format
- 35mm Kodak
- Director
-
Christopher Miles
- Producer
- Andrew Warren
- Co-Producer
- Andrew Warren
- Director of Photography
- Denis Crossan BSC
- Principal cast
- Nigel Hawthorne, Joan Collins, Timothy Spall, Tom Hollander, Natasha Little, Paul Nicholls, Emma Chambers
- Screen Writer
- Trevor Bentham
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
Portman Productions Ltd 167 Wardour Street London W1V 3TA Tel: 020 7468 3456 Fax: 020 7468 3469
Sales Company
Portman Entertainment Ltd as Production Company
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.
Grin
Director: Lawrence Fowler
Year: 2026
Following a horrific crime committed when they were young, a group of four friends think it will remain a secret forever until they discover and play a vintage board game. When the game unwittingly summons the grotesque clown demon ‘Grin’, it soon becomes clear the demon targets those who have committed terrible sins. Official selection FrightFest 2026
The Public
Director: Asa Gartland
Year: 2026
The Public have just played the best gig of their lives, and for the first time, someone in a suit is interested. It feels like the moment they have been waiting for, but celebrations quickly descend into chaos. Andy, the band's quiet and devoted guitarist, watches as his dream begins to dissolve around him. A chain reaction is set in motion as secrets are exposed, loyalties shift, and buried tensions explode to the surface. As the night spirals further out of control, the frontman, Ted, is pulled toward a future that could take him away for good. Andy becomes desperate to save Ted from himself and hold everything together, even as it becomes clear that some things will never be the same.
(In)Visible
Director: Sam Joseph
Year: 2025
(IN)VISIBLE explores the psychological effects of domestic abuse and society’s complicity in trial and judgement. A young wife, abused by her older husband, is misread as cold and detached while he charms his friends. When he suddenly leaves during a very awkward and tense pre-dinner gathering against the backdrop of a symbolic art exhibition, she finds herself at the centre of an uncomfortable, damning trial by those who only know his version of the story. The trial unfolds around a contemporary table setting, echoing iconic scenes from art history, showing the historical repeated patterns of how women are seen, silenced, and judged. The film’s emotional power lies in what remains unsaid, and it reveals the insidious nature of domestic abuse and the ease with which a perpetrator can shape a victim's story; in this narrative, the wife endures a hostile societal trial and judgment with strength, dignity and resilience.