Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Wide Sargasso Sea
Directed by John Duigan
New Line Home Video 04/93 DVD/VHS Feature Film
NC-17

Wide Sargasso Sea is an ambitious screen adaptation of Jean Rhys's 1966 novel which has been interpreted as a creative prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. In the middle of the 19th century, Rochester (Nathaniel Parker) arrives in the British colony of Jamaica to marry Antoinette (Karina Lombard), a Creole sugar heiress. Once their high-charged physical connection begins to wane, he is startled by rumors of madness in her family. Sensing that she is losing him, Antoinette calls upon the voodoo powers of his black maid to bring Rochester back. The results are catastrophic. John Duigan (Flirting) directs this powerful portrait of cross-cultural clashes giving equal time to the subsidiary theme of the war between the sexes.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat