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[W]e can be any self we want, can’t we?
Rosina de Silva/Mary Blackchurch, The Governess

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The Governess

Movie Review

1998 | R
Reviewed September 13, 2006

This movie felt like three or four half-movies in one, built on themes that never quite explained or resolved themselves fully: the alienation of the Jews in Victorian England, a young woman’s grief for her dead father, the exploration of photography as artistic medium, and so on. And then there was the unlikeliness of the science-meets-art photographic meanderings—you can either invent modern photography or you can invent modern erotica, but you can’t invent both at the same damn time. Occasionally, a scene or an image would actually send the intended message, but then someone would get their kit off and boink the subliminal meaning right out of the scene. I don’t know whether or not to blame Minnie Driver for her character’s unrealistically modern characteristics; I do blame her, however, for interpreting the direction “hold still for photograph” as “stare vacuously into the camera with mouth hanging open.” Only Tom Wilkinson’s performance really stood out (as did his manly bits—and did I mention the rampant nudity?). The whole thing felt fractured and half-finished. The only thing that made it worthwhile was Clementina, the horribly morbid little charge; that was like a glimpse into my future as a parent…

Ratings

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• Meh
• Stupid
• Terrible

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