Saturday Film Club #17: A Harlot's Progress

Director: Justin Hardy

Country of origin and year of release: UK, 2006

This made for TV film premiered on Channel 4 in 2006 and was created by the team behind the much more well known and successful City Of Vice. 

It's worth mentioning City Of Vice. Not only because it's set in the same historical period and city as A Harlot's Progress, nor simply because Henry Fielding is a key character in both productions, but because A Harlot's Progress can also be viewed as a sort of audition tape or first stab at City Of Vice. 

The origins of A Harlot's Progress lie in William Hogarth's series of engravings, A Harlot's Progress, which was first published in 1732. The engravings depict the journey (or progress) of a young woman, Moll Hackabout, who arrives in London and quickly ends up being procured by one of the cities brothel madams. It is a cautionary tale and, like Hogarth's later work The Rake's Progress, doesn't end well.  

The film imagines Hogarth's inspiration for The Harlot's Progress, with Toby Jones' Hogarth meeting Zoe Tapper's Moll in a tavern just as she is being procured by the brothel madam (played by an excellent Geraldine James). He draws her picture and seems intrigued by her, and by this chance meeting. Later, when she has become a high class courtesan and kept woman, Moll commissions Hogarth to paint her portrait. 

Throughout the film we largely see the cruel uncaring world of eighteenth century London through Hogarth's eyes. This is a city in which children die on the streets, men can buy time with female prisoners by bribing the jailer, rich people visit Bedlam to laugh at the inmates, and there is a gin craze. One of the weaker aspects of the film is the way it tries to draw parallels between Hogarth's world and the world as it was in 2006. Sometimes this is done fairly subtly, but often it's not and it can jar the viewer a bit sometimes. Similarly, a device is sometimes used whereby the viewer enters the scene through a still that reflects one of Hogarth's six engravings for the progress, and while it's very clever, it can sometimes feel a bit Brechtian and jarring, which I'm not always sure was the intention. 

There are some truly horrific moments in the film, including depictions of the later stages of syphilis, the ravages of gin, and the revelation that rather than being a lighthearted form of punishment, people did actually die in the stocks. 

By contrast, Hogarth's relationship with his wife is explored and these scenes count as some of the tenderest, most touching in the film. They contrast well with the anger Hogarth feels towards the hypocrisies of those in power, particularly as regards their responsibilities to those below them in the pecking order. It is this sense of injustice that seems to have inspired A Harlot's Progress in its finished form. 

There is a certain amount of fun to be had with Hogarth's interactions with his peer group, particularly Henry Fielding, who spends much of the film moping about the various public deaths of his plays. The joke here being that he will, once he switches to writing novels, receive the critical acclaim and success he has been craving. In a related note, the downward spiral of Moll is relieved of some of its brutality and horror by Hogarth's involvement in the founding of the Foundling Hospital, a purpose built home for abandoned children preserved these days as The Foundling Museum. 

While A Harlot's Progress doesn't always feel perfect, it is still a well put together, compelling and thoughtful drama about a period of history that doesn't always receive the scrutiny it deserves. Both central performances are tremendous, and Jones and Tapper are well supported by other members of the cast, including Richard Wilson as Hogarth's strait laced, disapproving father in law. Well worth watching.