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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Governess
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 out of 4
| *Also starring: | Florence Hoath, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Harriet Walter, Arlene Cockburn |
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Review by Susan Granger
3 stars out of 4
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In her fictionalized tale of Britain's first female
photographer, writer/director Sandra Goldbacher fashions a romantic
drama set in Victorian England. Minnie Driver plays the daughter of
a once-wealthy Jewishmerchant who leaves her sheltered Sephardic
community in London when herfather is murdered and the family
suffers a financial crisis. Suffering the stigma of anti-Semitism,
she poses as a Protestant in order to get a position as a governess
on the bleak, remote Scottish island of Skye. Thefamily that hires
her is bizarre: an obsessed scientist-father (Tom Wilkinson), an
invalid mother (Harriet Walter), a rebellious teenage son, anda
spoiled daughter, best described as "a rodent in petticoats."
Curiousabout his work, she offers to help with the photographic
process on which the father is working, becoming his laboratory
assistant and, eventually, not only his muse but his
partner. Together, they explore the estheticdimensions of the
then-emerging art of photography as she discovers a fixative to
prevent his camera images from fading. Eventually, of course, the
volatility of their intimate, illicit relationship explodes in a
betrayal. That and the attendant dialogue are inevitable and
predictable. After an auspicious debut in "Circle of Friends" and an
Oscar-nominated supporting role in "Good Will Hunting," Minnie
Driver delivers a standout, Oscar-caliber performance as the
seductive, spirited heroine, caught betweentwo cultures, a position
emphasized by Sandra Goldbacher's sensitive vision and Ashley Rowe's
stylish cinematography. On the Granger Movie Gaugeof 1 to 10, "The
Governess" is an exquisite, erotic 7, a sexy, sensuous feast for the
eye.
Copyright © 1998 Susan Granger
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