Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys has taken seven years to finish the novel, on which the movie is supposed to be based on. However, this rated film seems to be only concentrating on the sexual relationship between Rochester and Antoinette, as well as Sandi and Antoinette. The relationship with Sandi is deliberately kept as question marks for readers to ponder upon in the novel, but here in the movie it is explicitly interpreted and the sympathy created by Rhys is lost. But the movie is nevertheless a representation of colors in the Caribbeans--red, purple, blue and green--the exotic side of life that has repeled Rochester.

"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.

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.

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.

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-