CINEMA: Lady Godiva

There are some small British films that impress with their wit and their charm even when their lack of budget is glaringly obvious. Then there are others that just look cheap, and unfortunately Lady Godiva is one of them.

This modern day reworking of the classic story of a woman willing to strip off for what she believes to be a just cause has, for some unfathomable reason, been relocated from Nottingham to Oxford. Here, Jemima Honey (Phoebe Thomas) is a young schoolteacher mourning the loss of her brother James. She dreams of getting his beloved Art Factory off the ground and when notorious local playboy Michael Bartle (Matthew Chambers) bets her £100,000 she won’t ride naked through the streets, she decides she is going to have to leave her modesty behind her in order to fulfil James’ artistic vision.

Unfortunately, the result is anything but artistic, being stodgy, clichéd and crass, with a script that never rings true and actors who look uncomfortable even when they’ve got their clothes on. It’s all a bit like those made-for-TV daytime movies that end up drowning in their own gloop, while here Lady G finds herself drowning in hair. Dee Pilgrim

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