The Governess

Released 1998
Stars Minnie Driver, Tom Wilkinson, Florence Hoath, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Harriet Walter, Arlene Cockburn
Directed by Sandra Goldbacher

Minnie Driver plays a young Jewess, Rosina, whose father is murdered at the beginning of this period piece set in the mid-1800's. He leaves his family with debts, which forces Rosina to find work abroad. It's hostile times between Jews and Gentiles, so Rosina assumes a Protestant identity as Mary Blackchurch and becomes a governess (a live-in teacher) to a young girl on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Soon she's drawn to the passionless head of the household, Charles Cavendish (Tom Winkinson), who's an inventor working on a process for "fixing" pictures to paper. In other words, making photos that last more than a few hours.

The movie has a promising start with the clash of the Jewish and Protestant traditions, but then it pretty much forgets it. We see Mary as a well-educated, intelligent woman taking care of a slightly disturbed child, but nothing is explored with the child. Instead, we have Rosina throwing herself at a man who's completely repressed. He's unable to express a single emotion, but there's no way he could resist the beautiful young woman who's his intellectual equal. She's the entire package for him, and they have an affair. That's as interesting as I can make this big pile of doo doo sound, because I was bored out of my mind. I could see her being intellectually attracted to Charles, but she throws herself at him. There are a few times when she's on her knees begging him to forgive her for something. She waffles between an intellectual woman who's completely in control and a hysterical wench She was a virgin when she arrived, but she throws that away rather easily for a relationship with a married man. She has no pretensions that he'd leave his wife for her, but she pleads with him to become a kept woman in London. When Minnie goes overboard with the hysterics, it just doesn't work. It's out of character, and I didn't buy any of it. What's worse is I couldn't have cared less for any of the characters. The only good aspect of the film is the visuals, which are gorgeous. There's not a single frame in this movie that isn't beautiful, but it's boring, boring, boring. I can't imagine any reason to watch this dog other than seeing brief nudity from Minnie Driver.

Summary by Bill Alward, June 16, 2002