The Thirteenth Tale (film)
| The Thirteenth Tale | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Based on |
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield |
| Written by | Christopher Hampton |
| Directed by | James Kent |
| Starring |
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| Theme music composer | Benjamin Wallfisch |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Heyday Films |
| Release | |
| Original network | |
| Original release |
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| External links | |
| Website | |
The Thirteenth Tale is a British drama television film that first broadcast on BBC Two on 30 December 2013. It is an adaptation of Diane Setterfield's gothic novel The Thirteenth Tale.
Biographer Margaret Lea (Olivia Colman) arrives at the country house of famous novelist Vida Winter (Vanessa Redgrave). She's been invited to stay there and help Vida write her biography before she dies of terminal cancer.
Margaret is hesitant, as Vida's known for spinning a different lie each time she's asked about her background in interviews, so she requests some verifiable information from public record. Vida tells her that her birth name was Adeline March and the local newspapers wrote about a fire that burned down her family home when she was seventeen, of which she bears proof in the form of a key-shaped burn on her palm. With Margaret satisfied that she's telling the truth this time, Vida begins to tell her the events leading up to the fire.
She grew up at Angelfield, the decaying family estate, with her identical twin sister Emmeline. Their mother Isabelle was distracted by the abuse she suffered at the hands of her unhinged brother, Charlie, and eventually taken away to a mental asylum, so the girls were mostly left to their own devices, becoming unruly and anti-social. The only adult supervision they had came from the two servants, nicknamed "Missus" and "John-the-dig." A governess is hired, Hester Barrow, who has little effect on the girls behaviour. Hester speaks to the local doctor about the girls and proposes they are separated as a medical experiment to see if their behaviour improves. It doesn't, as they are both heartbroken at their forced separation. Adeline will not speak and Emmeline weeps constantly. Hester and the doctor are caught kissing by the doctor's wife, and they both disappear from the village. Vida tells Margaret it's thought they went to America.
By the time the girls were seventeen, they were all alone at Angelfield. Isabelle died in the asylum, and a week later Charlie killed himself. Missus and John-the-dig decided not to notify the police, as the girls would be taken away and they'd lose their jobs. Both Missus and John-the-dig fell to their deaths; Missus over three flights over a bannister, and John off an unsecure ladder. Though it looked like an accident, Adeline could tell the ladder's safety catch had been toyed with. Fearing what might have happened if she told the authorities they were alone, Adeline pretended Charlie was merely on holiday in Peru. She was assisted in this lie by Ambrose, a boy John had hired to help out after Missus' died.
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