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The GovernessRating:
Release Date: 16 February, 1999 Retail Price: $27.95 OUR Price: $7.97 You SAVE: $19.98! Cast: Complete Cast (7 total) |
The Governess Reviews
Forget the artsy-fartsy reviews---this movie entertains
If you're looking for an entertaining coming-of-age story, and you like seeing misty country scenes, and Minnie Driver in big black dresses, and you are willing to reflect a little on anti-Semitism, and the isolation of the landed gentry, I suggest you buy this movie. It delivers. It's a very good movie. It also has enough to it that if you want to "think deeply" about the symbolism, and character development, and the camera angles and blah blah blah, you can do that, too. It's just a good, solid movie.
Fury of a woman scorned.
The Governess, a movie by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, starring Minnie Driver and Tom Wilkinson.
This movie is set in anti-Semitic, mid nineteenth century England and Scotland. The storyline revolves around a Jewish young woman, Rosalina Da Silva, who lives in London with her family. After her father is brutally murdered and leaves the family strapped with his debts, the family is reduced to impoverishment and social shame. Minnie Driver stars as the courageous and feisty, Rosalina, who refuses to take the easier way out through an arranged and loveless marriage. Instead, she decides to support the whole family by hiring out as a governess. To do this, Rosalina, not only displeases her relatives, but also has to pretend that she is a Catholic and assume a fake identity of Mary Blackchurch. She thus, becomes a governess to a strange and troubled Scottish family.
Finding herself in a strange land, she is immediately faced with difficult personalities that of her willful charge, (Florence Hoath), an insulting and unstable matriarch, (Harriet Walter), and a remote but brilliant, master of the house, (Tom Wilkinson). This man is a scientist who dabbles in early experiments in photography. To his surprise, he soon finds a keen intelligence and a hunger for learning, in his new governess. Inadvertently, Mary becomes his aide, confidante, and lover.
The storyline turns tragic with a fierce love triangle, where no one wins in the affairs of the hearts, but nevertheless, the feisty Mary exacts a fierce revenge and still comes out a winner in the end.
It is a troubling movie for those of us who dream of marriage, everlasting love, and family yet it shows the intelligence, perseverance and strength of a woman. It also teaches a strong lesson, as to never underestimate the fury and revenge of a woman scorned, especially, when the woman is as intelligent and perceptive as the one so well portrayed by Minnie Driver.
This movie is deeply thought provoking and not one that you will forget easily. From a historical point of view, it brilliantly illustrates the prejudices of both the Catholics and the Jews and in the end, shows just how common we all are in our human frailties, regardless of race or creed. The actors do an excellent job portraying such heavy and volatile emotions while remaining believably human. It is a film worth watching several times in order to absorb and unravel all the fascinating angles of a painfully complex story.
More Customer Reviews (15 total)
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