Revealing Anne Lister (2010)

New BBC period drama includes The Secret Diary of Anne Lister, led me to this documentary about Anne Lister. She was a gentlewoman that was a rich landowner, industrialist, and "married" to a woman. She was all these things in the Regency Era of Jane Austen. She led a life so impossible to have been borne in her era.

Liked it. A captivating look at a remarkable and mercurial woman; a fearless human being. Interesting how class can make the huge difference in one's life. Now if I had been born a trust-fund baby, my life too would have vastly differed.  Learned two new words I like - mercurial and unassailable.

Presenter disliked her snobbishness as well as her predatory personality. Lister's snobbish didn't bother me. Perhaps being an American, her ruthlessness in getting what she wants - lover, money, rank is admirable. She's a force of nature, with a competitive streak. A Frank Sinatra who, no doubt, did it her way.

Favorite part - Anne Lister and her "wife" Ann Walker held for themselves, a private "wedding" ceremony in an Anglican church. Quite possibly the first known same sex-marriage in England, ever. Whether the clergy knew what they were doing, no one knows. Both the wealth and class position of both women made them unassailable against being ostracized from society, church, what ever.