March
2002
Movie Reviews: The
Governess and Persuasion
"The
Library is the only show in town"
By Dan Dodson
Despite what you may have read, the downtown Main Library is the
only place in Trenton to catch a movie. Librarian Maureen Neville
coordinates an ongoing monthly series of themed movies every other
Thursday at 6:30 p.m. February was "Black History Month,"
and representing the theme "Honor…Valor.. Achievement,"
were Glory and The Tuskegee Airmen. I saw Glory along with a capacity
crowd, and it's an even better movie the second time around. Maureen
did a nice job leading a short introductory discussion of the film
and related books available in the library.
March's
movies commemorate Women's History Month. Both The Governess (on
March 7) and Persuasion (on March 21) depict nineteenth century
British women who challenge their role in society.
A quick
tip: park in the library's lot next to the building and across the
street from YWCA. The Main Library is at 120 Academy Street, just
off of N. Broad Street and 2 blocks north of the State Street pedestrian
mall.
The
Governess introduces cameras into the bedroom
The
Governess is set in mid-nineteenth century London and Scotland.
It is a coming-of-age story about a Jewish girl. For those seeking
beauty, unbridled passion and plenty of drapery, this is a good
bet, but don't look for a riveting storyline or fast-moving action.
Rosina's (Minnie Driver) well-to-do father dies, leaving her London
family destitute. Rosina disguises her Jewish ethnicity and takes
a position as governess to the wealthy Cavendish family in the Scottish
countryside. She changes her name to Mary and pretends to be Christian,
as the provincial Cavendishes would not have her otherwise. In essence,
Rosina moves from the isolation of the London ghetto to the isolation
of rural Scotland. In addition to her governess duties, she begins
to help Mr. Cavendish (Tom Wilkinson) in his experiments in early
photography.
In
the course of their work together, Rosina and Mr. Cavendish carry
on an affair under the noses of wife, daughter and teenage son (who
has a crush of his own on Rosina). Director Sandra Goldbacher uses
still shots and well-constructed cinematography to carry through
the photographic theme of the movie. The photograph has often been
said to capture the subject's soul, and it turns out that while
Mr. Cavendish is mastering the technical aspects of the art form,
Rosina captures the artistic. It is the photography that creates
their relationship and eventually destroys it.
Minnie
Driver doesn't necessarily stand out in The Governess, though she
does create an exotic aura around herself. Rosina comes in a nineteenth-century
woman who wants to throw off tradition to discover the brave world
of love and sex. The heavily draped bedchambers provide an enclosed,
exotic atmosphere almost like looking into a modern bedroom webcam.
The
movie could be a study of the effects of isolation. Rosina's exoticism
destroys the isolated family and her absence (and cholera) destroys
the isolated Jewish community.
The
Governess has lots of sensual footage and is a brave choice for
the library. Tom Wilkinson also starred in The Full Monty.
Persuasion
is a British Fellini film
Set
in the England of 1813, Persuasion is about an ugly duckling that
marries Prince Charming. Like in other literature of the time, the
women in Persuasion are largely shown as second-class citizens.
The story centers on one woman's journey to seek more out of life
than the strictures of the time allow. I'm not one for period pieces,
but Persuasion had enough depth to entertain at many levels.
Anne
Elliot (Amanda Root) is the forgotten daughter of a ne'er-do-well
aristocratic father and the sister of two blithering idiots. The
family is broke, so they rent out their estate to an admiral who
has made his fortune in the navy and has seen the world. The family
leaves for Bath to socialize in more economical style. Meanwhile,
Anne goes to stay with her nearby married sister and her equally
aristocratic family. While there, she befriends the admiral and
his wife who turn out to be delightful people. By chance, the admiral's
wife is visited by her dashing and rich brother, Captain Wentworth
(Ciarian Hinds), also of the Royal Navy. As it turns out, he sought
to marry Anne 8 years earlier. Anne had been convinced to follow
tradition and not marry a man with no title and little money.
Though
it's no secret to the audience that Anne eventually marries Wentworth,
Ms. Austen and director Roger Michell do their level best to provide
doubt along the way. The cast's excessively reserved nineteenth-century
English emotions are toyed with for one hour and forty minutes in
typical Masterpiece Theater style, but that's not the best part
of Persuasion.
The
best part is the film's imagery. Sheep are everywhere in Persuasion.
The sheep not only symbolize the movie's pastoral nature but are
also a metaphor for blindly following tradition. If it's not sheep,
then it's a gaggle of geese, a room of card players or a parade
of partygoers. Michell points out differences between followed and
follower until Anne turns from ugly duckling to swan. The herding
continues until Anne and Captain Wentworth finally admit their love,
and are juxtaposed against a parade of partygoers traveling in the
opposite direction.
Persuasion
begins and ends in the ocean, as if to say that the freedom of the
high seas will come to dominate the confinement of the landed gentry.
This freedom is not just for women and happiness can only be found
by following your own way in love and in the world. My favorite
line in the movie: Anne's snobbish father to Captain Wentworth at
the end of the movie, "Anne … you want to marry Anne?
Whatever for?"
With
all the imagery involved (hams, ice, parties, jumping off walls,
clowns, sheep, sailors) one might suppose director Michell may have
watched one too many Fellini films, but it's all good fun.
A surprising
"thumbs up."
The
themes are a bonus
I anticipate
finding the library's movie themes to be an enjoyable embellishment
to movie watching. The challenge will be continuing to develop creative
themes and improving the movie watching experience.
