Angelica

A Victorian housewife descends into madness over involuntary abstinence due to health issues, dragging her sexually frustrated husband, their only daughter, and the audience through a very slow simmer without a climax. The film could have worked (the cinematography, sets and cast are all excellent), had it not been for the extraordinarily flat characters. They are all completely one-dimensional and only superficially relatable, not by fault of the actors but due to poor writing. After spending an hour and a half in the presence of the downtrodden Constance, I still couldn't describe her character in more than a sentence. Malone gave an excellent performance, as did the rest of the cast, but an actor can only do so much with a dull script.

I've just seen this on dvd, rented from my local library, so I didn't spend much on it. It's probably one of the worst films on dvd this year. Extraordinarily boring, completely without horror, if horror's your thing. It isn't mine, but I don't mind watching if the rest of the film around the horror is worthwhile. This isn't. I rented it because Janet McTeer's in it, but even so it's simply not worth watching. Great sets by Luciana Arrighi. Beautiful wallpaper, steals the show.

Victorian England - Newlyweds Malone and Stoppard have a daughter, Angelica, and soon afterwards supernatural events have a significant impact on the mother.

Despite a compelling performance from Malone and a an atmosphere capturing both Victorian society and the spookiness quite nicely, in the end this is actually rather tedious. McTeer's presence adds to the interest, but she seems to making a more typical ghost story, which this is not and whilst the ultimate pay off is interesting and not wholly unexpected, since they've been using to right tools of the trade in making this you do yearn for the film McTeer is making.

Honestly, I have never before watched such drivel. You get a feel from the very start that it is going to be bad, but you cannot know how much. There isn't much background given to the characters, there is not much of a storyline to build on. The actors - especially Malone - offer very poor performance. I am guessing that is the director because Malone can deliver in other roles I have seen. There is no horror, just constant waiting for something worthwhile to happen; and I am sorry to say it doesn't. Having Malone play her daughter as an adult was a poor choice too. I will say, the Victorian setting was beautiful, but that's all I've got.

It is unfortunate that Angelica lacks the bite of Lichtenstein's previous film, Teeth - excuse the terrible pun. Despite exploring the similar theme of women empowerment through sexual control, the humor misses its mark, leaving the shell of irony in its place. The fitting Victorian background to this tale, well captured throughout, does not suffice to make the film worth recommending.

The story tells us of a mother's confession, Constance, who while lying on her deathbed admits to harbouring a dark secret from her daughter, Angelica. We go back to Angelica's conception as the fruit of a healthy, passionate marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Barton, which sadly leaves the to-be mother in a state that does not allow her to go through another childbirth. With contraception methods poorly at hand, that leaves abstinence as the sole means of ensuring Constance's good health. This results in a gaping void between the pair, where passion is replaced by restrained desire and mutual frustration. Moreover, as she faces her guilt of both being immoral in her pursuits and incapable of pleasing herself and her husband, a dark presence appears that plagues her nights, as she looks to protect her daughter.

Unfortunately, the obstacles in turning the source novel into a novel film offering fails on most counts. First and foremost, in finding the thin line between clever irreverence and irrelevance, guarding the experience of the film as either something frightening, or something comical. Perhaps Drag Me to Hell highlights what this looks like when done successfully - and even in such a case, opinions are divided. Secondly, Jenna Malone labours to offer a conflicted performance as a British 19th century wife, but her efforts are consistently undermined as she appears around characters ridiculous in features or in speech. Finally, it's hard to feel for the fate of Constance and Angelica, as they fail to be more than the sum of this movie's parts - mundane and full of painful restraint.

Lichtenstein is not able to find a balance in this story, mixing modern morality into his somber settings, thereby loosening the movie's grip of its characters. The rare moments of authentic playfulness or artfulness are drowned in an otherwise typical period piece, that looks fine - and that's about it.