Wide Sargasso Sea (1993)

★ 4.7 1h 38m IMDb

Drama Thriller Romance

In the wake of Jamaican emancipation, French colonist Annette Cosway falls into poverty and marries racist Englishman Paul Mason. But when Annette's young son dies in a fire started by former slaves, Mason flees to England, leaving his grief-stricken wife and her Creole daughter Antoinette behind. Soon Antoinette learns she must marry to claim her inheritance and sets her sights on Rochester, an Englishman eerily similar to Mason.

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Cast

Karina Lombard as Antoinette Cosway Age 57 · Tahiti, French Polynesia Born in Tahiti, Karina moved to Spain at an early age. After attending a number of boarding schools and living throughout Europe where she became fluent in Spanish, English, Italian, French, and Germa...

Nathaniel Parker as Edward Rochester Age 63 · London, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nathaniel Parker (born 18 May 1962) is an English stage and screen actor best known for playing the lead in the BBC crime drama series The Inspector Lynley Myste...

Rachel Ward as Annette Cosway Age 68 · Cornwell Manor, Cornwell, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK Rachel Claire Ward (born September 12, 1957) is an English-Australian actress, film and television director, screenwriter, and former model who has primarily pursued her career in Australia. During h...

Michael York as Paul Mason Age 84 · Fulmer, England, UK Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; March 27, 1942) is an English actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco...

Martine Beswick as Aunt Cora Age 84 · Port Antonio, Jamaica Martine Beswick (born 26 September 1941) is an English-Jamaican actress and model perhaps best known for her roles in two James Bond films, From Russia with Love (1963) and Thunderball (1965), who wen...

Director John Duigan

Cast Karina Lombard, Nathaniel Parker, Rachel Ward, Michael York, Martine Beswick, Claudia Robinson, Paul Campbell, Naomi Watts, Rowena King

Wuchak 6/10 May 30, 2019

***Tragedy, love, hate and madness in 19th century Jamaica***

A young woman (Karina Lombard) marries an Englishman (Nathaniel Parker) in mid-1800s’ Jamaica to save her plantation. Rachel Ward plays her mother, Michael York her stepfather and Martine Beswick her aunt, all three being small roles.

"Wide Sargasso Sea” (1993) is an adult-oriented historical drama that’s a quasi-prequel to “Jane Eyre.” I say “quasi” because the 1966 novel the movie was based on was written by Jean Rhys 119 years after the release of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” in 1847. In other words, “Wide Sargasso Sea” is Rhys’ proposed prequel of that famous story, not the official one.

The movie works better if you are familiar with “Jane Eyre,” but it’s not absolutely necessary. Naturally, “Wide Sargasso Sea” gives you a better understanding of what’s happening in “Jane Eyre,” which has been made into several movies, e.g. the 1970 version with George C. Scott & Susannah York, which is the only version I’ve seen.

The best thing about this movie is the setting, cast and style. It successfully takes you back in time to Jamaica circa early 1850s. The two protagonists are thoroughly convincing, as are Claudia Robinson as Antoinette’s nurse, an obeah (voodoo) witch, and Rowena King as Amelie, an island girl who thinks she’s hotter than she is. Really, the whole cast rises to the challenge.

There’s a revolt by ex-slaves in the first act that’s both realistic and harrowing. The story gets brighter with Antoinette & Edward’s honeymoon, but takes a dark turn in the second half. I didn’t feel there was enough cause to justify Edward’s metamorphosis. The filmmakers’ should’ve made this clearer. There’s a measure of ugliness with the last half being downbeat. If you can handle that, it’s worth checking out. It basically mixes Brando’s “Burn!” (1969) with “The Piano” (1993) and “Sirens” (1994), the latter two debuting within a year after this one.

The film runs 1 hour and 38 minutes and was shot in Jamaica with a small bit in England.

GRADE: B-