The Governess (1998)

Minnie Driver stars as an impoverished Jewish woman, Mary, living in an emphatically anti-Semitic England in the mid-19th century. Following the murder of her beloved father--who leaves his survivors strapped with his debts--she camouflages her identity as a Protestant of Italian descent and takes a job as governess to an unorthodox Scottish family. In this film by Sandra Goldbacher, sundry conventions from Victorian novels mix with a contemporary, feminist take on Mary's subsequent adventures. Mary asserts, with some effort, her authority over her willful charge (Florence Hoath); she dodges the insults of a vaguely ghoulish matriarch (Harriet Walter); and she becomes an aide, confidante, and lover to the man of the house (Tom Wilkinson), a naturalist dabbling with early experiments in photography. Goldbacher fails to make it all feel as fully realized as it could be (much of the detail and soul of Mary's life in London is too telescoped and impressionistic to sink in). But the film's middle section, in which the heroine's complicity with Wilkinson's married character engages her keen intelligence as well as her untapped sensuality, is deeply felt. It's nice to see Driver prove she can carry a film, though the dreamy, exotic photography by Ashley Rowe certainly pulls a viewer along as well. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Duty bound feminism

There were several favorable reviews from fellow Amazonians regarding THE GOVERNESS, and it was recommended by the dear hearts at Amazon, so I took a shot in the dark on this one.

The lushness of the Isle of Skye is absolutely breathtaking (great direction w/the sweeping camera shots), while you can feel the grittiness and urban setting of Victorian London (the "ladies of the night" egging Rosina on is a particularly standout moment). Minnie Driver's portrayal of Rosina da Silva is fragile, yet strong, curious, yet introverted when it comes to opening up to her charge, Clementina. She only seems to "blossom" fully when the master of the house Mr. Cavendish begins to lavish a *ahem* special attention upon her.

The viewer never really understands WHY Rosina is so enthralled with a man who is distant, self-serving, and cold, cold, cold as a popsicle in a blizzard. She spurns the handsome, interesting son of the home (the always dashing Jonathan Rhys Meyers-who is NOT showcased properly) for a man old enough to be her father. Perhaps it's the ever-present "turning to a man for lack of daddy's love" theory rearing its head.

3-star effort for cinematography, the bits and pieces of JRM, and the fascinatingly morbid Clementina ("I dreamed little baby Jesus made me eat all of the chocolate or else He'd cut off my legs!").
July 8, 2008

A lesson well learnt

This movie is made predominantly by women, and it really shows in the way the issues of a young woman's emerging sensuality and sexual curiousity are dealt with. The scripts are realistic and the photography is stunning. In addition, the film vividly contrasts, using language, clothes and scenery, the austere and cold Protestant Christianity of those times against the richness and warmth of the equivalent Jewish culture.

One of the other themes in the movie is the way women's contributions to emerging sciences was often unrecognised due to the inferior social and professional positions of women in Europe and Britian during the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions.

There are so many levels to this movie, which makes it one of those movies you can watch over and over and over...... March 11, 2008

The Governess

Period piece about the early days of photography and a relationship between an older man and a younger woman. Minnie Driver plays a Jewess in London who finds work in Scotland after her father is murdered. She gets in with her employer and is desired by his son. Minnie Driver is a second generation Jenny Agutter with those sweeping cheeks. She was born in London on January 31, 1970. Her real name is Amelia. Her sister called her Minnie because she could not pronounce it. Driver sang in jazz clubs before her movie career took off and has since recorded an album for Rounder Records for which she composed 10 songs. She is a statuesque 5'10".
February 28, 2008

Romantics always wake up in the end.

There is much that can be said about this film. It is one of those films that can stimulate much discussion since everyone probably comes away from the film with a vast range of opinions and impressions about what they have seen. The film is told from a Jewish perspective which makes it unique for a film about the English and Scottish in the early 19th century at the frontier days of photography.

Minnie Driver is never more beautiful or in full control of her acting abilities as she is in this film. The still photography of her nude is beautiful. This is the film that defines her as an actress. She demonstrates that she can carry an entire production, appearing in almost every scene, and yet always engaging the audience with her well delivered performance.

The artistic direction and costumes are super, with a tendency to favor the color black in interiors, carriages, clothing, and furniture. The films inside a Jewish home begin the film.

The film has a menacing, foreboding, uneasy feel about it. This in enhanced by the barren shores on the Isle of Skye, the bleak and drafty laboratory of Charles Cavendish, and the almost creepy manner in which the entire Cavendish family interacts. Mrs. Cavendish is spooky. Minnie plays a very young extremely romantic and impressionable Jewish woman who tries to pass as an Italian protestant to obtain a governess position for a wealthy Scottish family. Minnie plays Rosina de Silva who must change her name to Mary Blackchurch to hide her ethnicity. Her student is the young Cavendish daughter, played well by Florence Hoath. Hoath plays this dreadfully morbid child perfectly and offers some of the light moments of humor in the film. Yet even this child makes up puppet plays about murder and exposure to the elements, or reads bloody dreadful fairy stories. While Rosina falls for Mr. Cavendish, his college freshman son falls for Rosina. Henry Cavendish is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who does an excellent job of playing the willful lustful reckless young love puppy, who oddly mirrors Rosina's lust for his father through his obsession with her.

Rosina is full of passion and this becomes directed toward Mr. Cavendish, a man 20 years her senior. They become lovers, he wracked with misgivings and guilt, she intoxicated by passion and blind to consequences. It is Charles Cavendish's uneasy approach to the affair that gives the film its narrative tone. He keeps saying that they are making a mistake and the film continually conveys this message with each frame. He moves toward Rosina and then away, his wisdom telling him to be very careful with his emotions.

Is there subtext in this film? Yes, I think so. To some degree the film can be seen as what happens when a young overly romantic attractive young women is placed in a situation where her natural passions are easily misdirected to an older married man. Yet there is also a subtext that painful things happen to Jewish folks who become romantically involved with Gentile folks. The film is unique in that it is told through Jewish perspectives rather than the typical Anglo-centric productions, of which there are many. This perspective is interesting and unique.
October 7, 2007

Beautiful

I have to say that this film is one of my favorites. Starring Minnie Driver as a enchanting Jewish girl who, through unforeseeable circumstances, has to leave the only home she's ever known in London, her grieving mother, best friend/sister, and the man she's has every intention on marrying, to become a Governess (hence the title)for an affluent family in Scotland to help support her family.

While there, she has to manage a bratty yet lonely young girl, find a way to tolerate a snobby, puckered posterior mistress, fight off the advances of the expelled pubescent and gorgeous young master, and assist the master of the house in his work to find the chemical to stabilize photographed images, all while hiding the fact she is Jewish.

Moments of the movie are suspended like a pulchritudinous photograph. Great story, wonderful acting, and plenty of eye candy. April 3, 2007

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