This film was gorgeous; Jamaica is a beautiful country. This film, however, had serious flaws. One was the rather bizarre use of "erotic" scenes. They were incomplete and contributed little, if anything, to the plot. The viewer only gets a glimpse of the passion that supposedly exists between Edward and Antoinette. Therefore, they should have either gone all the way, tastefully (no pun intended), or have left those scenes out entirely. The most egregious problems, however, regarded the plot. There were enormous holes, which perhaps could be rectified by reading the book. But for those who haven't read the book, there should be enough information in the film itself to keep the reader afloat. From the start it was unclear what was really going on with this family (despite the narration). Why did the ex-slaves keep laughing? (Something vaguely explained in the movie, though apparently fully explained in the book). Why didn't the parrot fly away? What made the mother go nuts? At no point in the movie were Mr. Rochester's "issues", as it were, fully explained. The man gets a letter exposing his wife as a Creole and dumps her like a hot potato, after (as Christophene explains) he was the one who came crawling to her in the first place. What a hypocrite. Again, maybe this is the ultimate point, that Mr. Rochester is a snob and the archetypical Victorian Englishman and that Antoinette is the victim of both his prejudice and that of the Jamaicans. But none of that exonerates the appallingly abrupt conclusion to the film. One minute they are sailing off for England and the next she is the insane woman in the tower who burns down Mr. Rochester's house in "Jane Eyre." There is by no means enough plot development to support such a leap. So, despite the beautiful cinematography, this movie is a hopeless muddle. Stick to the book.
2/5 stars (for the scenery)
2/5 stars (for the scenery)