Main Cast: Karina Lombard, Nathaniel Parker, Rachel Ward, Michael York, Martine Beswicke
Release Year: 1992
Country: AU/UK
Run Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: NC17
Plot
Director John Duigan brings Jean Rhys' difficult 1966 best-selling novel to the screen. It's a story meant to be a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, surmising what drove the first Mrs. Rochester mad in that novel. In Jamaica in the 1840s, slavery has been recently outlawed. Plantation owner Annette Cosway (Rachel Ward) has become so poor that she marries a rich, boorish Englishman whom she does not love. Her husband, Paul Mason (Michael York), is a sexist, racist tyrant who mistreats his servants and his wife. Paul flees to England after the servants and their countrymen revolt and burn down the mansion, killing Annette's young son. Annette goes insane and is consigned to the care of a servant. Her daughter Antoinette (Karina Lombard) is placed in a convent until she is old enough to inherit the property, but the inheritance depends on her marrying a proper husband. By previous arrangement, she marries Edward Rochester (Nathaniel Parker). At first they are lustily in love, but Rochester proves to be as elitist who is as disrespectful as Mason. Rochester has title to all of Antoinette's property, but he despises Jamaica and wants to return to England. He also fears the black magic of Christophene (Claudia Robinson), who mixes up a voodoo potion which ends up driving the couple farther apart. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Review
John Duigan's film version of the Jean Rhys novel, something of a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, is an extraordinarily atmospheric visualization of the decline of a marriage. The plot explores the first marriage of Jane Eyre's, Mr. Rochester (Nathaniel Parker), from the first blush of romance with beautiful Jamaican plantation heiress Antoinette Cosway (Karina Lombard) to the disintegration of the union at the hands of a cruelly autocratic husband. Although the characterization is sketchy, Duigan uses the steamy climate to bring the neo-Gothic novel's eroticism to the foreground -- filling the screen with sweaty, entangled bodies. Along with the frank sexuality, there's also a layer of social comment on the issues of male dominance and the exploitation of black labor not usually associated with this genre. Yet, one comes away frustrated by the opacity of the characters, more memorable as naked bodies than naked souls. The film performed poorly in theaters, no doubt hurt by the NC-17 rating. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Claudia Robinson - Christophene; Rowena King - Amelie; Huw Christie Williams - Richard Mason; Dorothy Cunningham - 2nd Woman; Bobby Smith - Machete Man; Kevin Thomas - Benbow; Naomi Watts - Fanny Grey; Ben Thomas - Daniel Conway; Paul Campbell - Young Bull
Credit
Susan Bolles - Art Director, Norma Moriceau - Costume Designer, James Cohen - First Assistant Director, P.J. Voeten - First Assistant Director, John Duigan - Director, Anne Goursaud - Editor, Sara Risher - Executive Producer, Stewart Copeland - Composer (Music Score), Noriko Watanabe - Makeup, Michael Howells - Production Designer, Gabriel Beristain - Cinematographer, Geoff Burton - Cinematographer, Karen Koch - Producer, Ian Sharp - Producer, Steve Kirshoff - Special Effects, Shelagh Delaney - Screenwriter, John Duigan - Screenwriter, Ian Sharp - Screenwriter, Jean Rhys - Book Author
