Wide Sargasso Sea (93)

2/9/97

Antoinette was born in Jamaica, the daughter of a plantation owner and his French wife. When the slaves are freed, the father drinks himself to death and the mother tries to cling to the plantation by marrying an older Englishman. When the former slaves revolt against the family, the mother goes insane and the father returns to England to 'forget her'. This is not a happy childhood for Antoinette. She is sent to a boarding school until an uncle arranges a marriage to an Englishman she's never met. They meet, marry, and move to a hilltop home in the middle of the jungle. They get to know each other and learn to trust each other and have incredible sex in extremely erotic locations. They barely wear clothes, the two of them. Then some sort of voodoo gets involved and the husband sleeps with a servant girl and the couple fights and ultimately moves to dreary and cold England. I'm not sure what was trying to be said here. Two attractive people fall in love with the backdrop of waterfalls and incredible green, but much too quickly, pain enters their paradise. Lombard and her husband, played by Parker, are quite attractive, and the film makes much use of their bodies [a rare penis is shown (that isn't to say the penis is a rare thing, just seeing one in a film is)]. The jungle heat necessitates loose cotton clothing with no undergarments and the actors dress and undress accordingly. Besides the erotic factor, I'm not sure if we care about the characters. I'm not sure we know any more about Jamaica than we already knew. No insights are made into a white/master vs. black/servant relationship. It was pleasant to look at, but not much to think about.
Karina Lombard Nathaniel Parker Rachel Ward Michael York Martine Beswick Claudia Robinson Huw Christie Williams Casey Berna Rowena King Ben Thomas Directed By John Duigan Cinematography by Gabriel Beristain and Geoff Burton Music By Stewart Copeland
Ebert ***^ Maltin ** 40 Critics 5.9
[Movietalk] [Cinema] [Home]