Wide Sargasso Sea (1993)

Undescribable Perfection

Too much of everything

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

No one sets out to make a bad movie, but I think this film had to have fallen short of what the filmmakers intended. One sign that they felt the script wasn't delivering the punch needed was the number of times the stars shed their clothes.It's a pretty complex plot, and is the prelude to the story of "Jane Eyre". Set in the 1830's, it involves two generations of women living on a plantation in Jamaica. Antoinette Cosway (Karina Lombard), like her mother before her, marries an English gentleman; in her case this is Edward Rochester (Nathaniel Parker). She has been given the estate on the proviso that she marry an Englishman to manage it. For a while, Edward and Antoinette are happy, and can't leave each other alone, having many a sweaty encounter in the candlelit bedroom.Then everything starts to unravel; the madness that runs in Antoinette's family begins to overwhelm her, and there is trouble with the servants. Edward has another hot and sweaty encounter in the bedroom, but this time it's with one of the servant girls. Edward heads off to England and it all ends in tears, flames and madness.The over-the-top quality of the whole thing does give the film a certain energy, and there is frisson in naked trysting to the beat of voodoo drums, but there is a lot in the film that just doesn't gel.Narration can be a lazy way to tell a story in movies. Although it has worked beautifully in some films, it seems laboured and overly literate in this one. The script problems are not helped by the awkwardness of the lead actors.The film includes real locations in England and Jamaica but are shot in a very straightforward and unimaginative way. The actors and extras look as though they are simply dressed up - they don't inhabit the era at all.Even the real sailing ships sit statically in calm waters, giving little sense of having crossed vast distances. This is a film that needed a touch of art directorial inspiration.In fact, old studio films such as "Green Dolphin Street" or "Son of Fury", shot for the most part on the sound stage, with their sets teaming with extras and ships under full sail, caught the romance of exotic locales far better. One element that really works is Stewart Copeland's score. I was surprised to hear motifs and themes that I was familiar with from his powerful score for "Rapa Nui", composed a year later. They are more embryonic here, but contain the same blend of exotic elements with atmospheric and thematic chords. While not unwatchable by any means, the film has more than a few problems to overcome, not the least being an actress out of her depth, and little feeling for time and place.

The following review is taken from my contribution to a thread called "Worst novel adaptations" from the Film General board: Wide Sargasso Sea was originally a beautiful, haunting novel set in mid-19th century Jamaica written by Creole-Welsh writer Jean Rhys in the 1960s. Plot-wise, it's basically the prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, the story of a young Mr Rochester traveling to the Caribbean and meeting his first wife, the "mad wife" in the attic featured in Jane Eyre (though here she is young and not yet "mad", and we are described what gradually led her to losing her sanity). It's a sensual novel, mainly because the lush Jamaican countryside and emotional spontaneity of the local people was too much for the straight-laced, English Victorian gent, Rochester. But there are no sex scenes in the novel - basically, it's NOT an erotic novel as the film "adaptation" would suggest. It's written in subtle, understated yet powerfully-evoked prose that speaks of the movements of the soul rather than those of the pelvis. There's lots of passion in Wide Sargasso Sea THE BOOK, but it's mostly emotional. It's an extremely multi-layered novel and the work of a true master. The film on the other hand is just your classic, bad 1990s film, beautiful to look at, with lots of skin, languid copulation, heaving bosoms, bodice-ripping nonsense, etc and next to no substance. It has no artistic integrity whatsoever, as its shameless makers must surely know they lifted their middle finger at the spirit of the Jean Rhys novel when choosing to make the film the way they did. None of the understanding of the deepest secrets of the soul that the novel can so miraculously evoke. None of the beauty, poetry, deep, heart-felt tragedy, pathos, haunting quality. Nothing. Just a lot of pointless, choreographed sex between beautiful people in an "exotic" setting. Why not make an erotic version of Jane Eyre while we're at it? Plus there's nothing worse than eroticism that takes itself too seriously. I'd highly recommend the novel by the way: a book you don't forget in a hurry. Needless to say I think you should give this insulting (to the memory of Jean Rhys) film a miss, especially if you've read the novel: it'll just frustrate you, no matter how keen on a bit of easy titillation you may be feeling at the time.

Anyone who has ever read Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte's brooding masterpiece, knows the adult, world-weary Edward Rochester. They also know about the secret locked in the tower room of Thornfield Hall. What Charlotte never fully explains is how Mr. Rochester came to be the aloof, stony man he is and how is wife came to be mad.Well, The Wide Sargasso Sea attempts to answer those questions. In my opinion The Wide Sargasso Sea does an excellent job.This is a vivid and sensual film, and depending on the version you see, VERY explicit. But in this case I think the nudity and sexual activity is justified and not gratuitous. Nathaniel Parker gives a stunning performance as Rochester. I recommend this one.I like to watch The Wide Sargasso Sea first and then put on my VHS of the splendid A&E production of Jane Eyre with Ciarn Hinds as Rochester. The two follow each other beautifully and seen together, the puzzle of Edward Rochester is solved, at least to my satisfaction.

"Wide Sargasso Sea" is a very elegant, sexy, melodrama about the meaning of love. Young Creole girl Antoinette Conway is married to Englishman Edward Rochester, and the two move to her coastal home in Jamaica. Seeds of doubt are placed in Edward's mind by servants a mysterious man sending letters about Antoinette's mother, who went insane, and Edward fears that Antoinette, like her mother, will go mad. He turns a cold shoulder towards her, and unknowingly destroys his wife. Kinda slow, but worth it, it makes you think and has the feel of a gothic potboiler."Wide Sargasso Sea" is Unrated for graphic sexuality and nudity.NOTE: "Wide Sargasso Sea" is available in R-Rated and Unrated versions. The R-Rated version trims out two minutes of sex scenes, while the Unrated versions keeps them in.