Le jardin secret

I simply adore this movie. I can watch it over and over and never grow tired. It's simply stunning. Mary Lennox is an orphan who must stay with her cold and emotionally unattached uncle in his expansive manor. Here, she keeps to herself and finds an old garden and brings it back to life with the help of the staff and a young boy named Dicken. She comes to meet her cousin, the lil brat Colin, and teaches him to walk again despite being told he's unable to. The garden is apparently magical, but in a realistic way. There's no fairy dust or other such nonsense. It's just allowing people to believe in themselves and be happy. The music is touching as are the relationships of the characters. Colin wanting to marry her despite their 1st cousin status was a little too much for me, but didn't cause a break in the movie. I wished they had shown what she looked like as a grown up instead of avoiding her face, but I guess that's to keep her forever young in our minds. The mean maid (whose name i forget she was in Sister Act) provided a challenge to Mary, but nothing she couldn't handle and eventually won her over. Mary was a royal brat at first, but only cuz she didn't know how else to be since her parents were self-involved. I was glad to see her come out of it. Dicken was such a cool kid, I loved him a lot. He was smart without having to go to school for it and was just loveable and helpful. In other versions, he and Mary were supposed to get together, but he died in some war and she took up with Colin. I really liked him though. Colin was a sicly kid who they constantly fussed over and he was snotty to show for it. He calmed down a little too, but could still be a royal pain. He was temperamental and that was annoying, but that was his character. The father, Lord Craven, was only emotionally unattached because his wife died in childbirth and he thought his son wasn't able to be healthy and he would just run away. How English of him, lol. The garden was absolutely beautiful and gorgeous. Made you wanna be a kid again and just frolick around in it. All the animals and plants were inviting. It seemed simplistic and a good place to be. Even though Mary was young, she could still make a difference to herself and others and that's what makes the movie special and timeless.

This movie is an utter delight to watch. I have probably seen it a dozen times, and I never get tired of it. Everything about it is perfect: it's well-directed, well-acted, beautifully filmed, has great music, and the script and story are wonderful.

Agneiszka Holland does an outstanding job directing this film. Each character is separate and unique; each one has little personality quirks that makes it seem real. Just about every scene in the movie includes children, animals, or both -- which must have been a nightmare to coordinate. Ms. Holland pulls it off without a hitch. Everything melds perfectly, and we are transported to a distant place and time, and fall in love with real, human characters.

The primary three characters in this story -- Mary Lennox, Colin Craven, and Dickon -- are all children, played by actors who are around 10 years old. Ordinarily having one child in a movie is difficult enough, but again, somehow they pull it off. All three kids -- especially Kate Maberly -- do a fine job of acting, and they are quite credible. Kate is simply divine as Mary Lennox, and Heydon Prowse was a good counter-point to her as Colin.

The story is touching and charming, and I think you'd have to be almost inhuman not to have a tear in your eye by the end of it. I absolutely fell in love with these children, and came to care very much about their characters. The "secret garden" really does seem to be a magical place (and I will say no more about it, since otherwise that would spoil things), and at the end I found myself wishing I could go and visit it first-hand. The accompanying music is wonderful -- I find myself humming it for days and days after watching it.

In short, everything comes together to make this film a masterpiece. It is easily one of the 10 or 12 best movies ever made, perhaps *the* best movie ever made. I love it so much that I went out and bought the DVD of it, even though I'd seen it 8 or 10 times already. If you have not seen it I give it my highest possible recommendation. My score: 10/10.

Ah, the many memories I have with The Secret Garden, I have to admit it, when I was a kid, I had this group of girlfriends and we always thought it would be so cool if we discovered a garden just like the children in this movie did. As silly as that sounds, the movie really got our imaginations going. Of course you grow up and you forget a little bit about the movies that you used to watch as a kid. But I was looking at the five dollar bin at Wal Mart and found The Secret Garden, I figured since I hadn't seen it in a while that I could check it out once again and still I think I have a special love for this magical story about bringing life back into a dead world.

The recently-orphaned Mary Lennox travels from her home in India to her uncle Archibald Craven's hundred-room house, Misselthwaite Manor. Mary, materially spoiled but emotionally neglected by her late parents, is rather unpleasant and unhappy in her new surroundings. Martha, a Yorkshire girl working as a maid, and her brother Dicken, a boy who can talk to animals, befriend and help her to heal and grow. She discovers her deceased aunt's secret garden, which has been locked for ten years and enlists Dickon to help her bring it to life. Hidden away in the gloomy house is Mary's cousin Colin, who has been treated all his life like a fragile, sickly invalid. This exaggeration has augmented what smaller problems he did have, turning him into a demanding, short-tempered, helpless boy. Mary, defying the orders of Mrs Medlock, discovers Colin and is taken aback by his disposition, but reaches out to him anyway. Soon Colin, Mary, and Dickon all spend their time in the secret garden. They perform magic, and make the garden live again.

The Secret Garden is always going to hold a special place in my heart, I absolutely adore this film and it brings back so many wonderful memories from my childhood. The children that they found to play Mary, Dicken and Colin were absolutely perfect and were great actors actually, I'm surprised they didn't move onto bigger things in their careers, but they had great chemistry and really brought the movie to life. The settings are gorgeous, the garden that the children created was so lovely and reminds me about all the wonderful things that spring brings, life. If you haven't seen The Secret Garden, I highly recommend that you do, it's a very special film that I'm sure you'll fall in love with as well.

8/10

The Secret Garden is a classic with all ages. This version is best of all. Actors and scenery captures the story for us, of a little boy, motherless because of an accident and the garden that claimed her life. The boys father keeps the garden hidden from all. Over grown like that of in 'sleeping beauty' no one even knows it is there, till the boy's cousin comes to visit a little girl, who breathes life back into the home, the family and this poor crippled boy. Family entertainment to a "T". Might need one hankie, for it can be very heart rending at times. Great film to have in your movie library.

The Secret Garden is a rare treat where in the screenwriter and director actually understand their source, The Secret Garden by Frances Hogsden Burnett, and make a translation to the screen that not only captures the essence of the book but enhances the story as well. Too often directors spoil the story with their own self-interested spin (Little Big Man and Chocolat come immediately to mind)but here is a jewel that leaves the viewer saying "That was as good as the book." A genuine triumph.

The cast is outstanding, the children in particular, Kate Maberly as Mary Lennox above all. Even to the most minor extra everyone brings a smooth and compelling reality to the story.

However, the real star is director Agnieszka Holland. Against a challenging climate ( a rainy location) she manages to create a movie with a touching commentary on how children can literally change the world. Her insightful grasp of the themes of isolation, growth and rejuvenation, the need for a balance between nurture and allowable risk are all managed through the controlling metaphor of a garden. The artful rendering of these literary themes are what many directors apparently find most challenging ( I'm looking at you Arthur Penn)and generally blissfully ignore them compensating by glib insertions, extra action or clumsy sentiment. Not so here.

Not only is her focus exemplary but the photography is amazing. The interplay of light and dark, the time elapse photos of clouds rolling and flowers emerging all set to beautiful music captivate the viewer. The rainy weather was not shunned but used to fullest effect. I can only imagine the discipline it must have taken to wait for the sun to peep out from the clouds and then roll film hoping that the cast can pull off the shot before the light changed and a second take became a long wait. Fortunately all are up to the task and the film, the final scene in particular, results in a brilliant piece of motion picture art.

The 1993 version of The Secret Garden is a must for every family film collection, one the parents and kids can enjoy for its sophistication or simply for the great way in which this timeless classic is retold.