The Governess
Minnie Driver's new film: it's one of the "Governess in Remote Estate" genre, something I understand better than the "American/Briton in Italian Villa," but, really, that doesn't say much. The latter is entirely mysterious to me; the former is less so, only because of the good old high school reading list, which included more Bronte sisters than you can reasonably expect to see in later life.
This new film takes place in the 1820s or 1830s, and throws a few twists into the usual story. The first one, not truly remarked on for most of the movie, is that Minnie Driver's character is Jewish. To kick off the film, we see an interesting depiction of Jewish life in early 19th C. London: a marginalized culture, almost wholly insular, with its own rituals and institutions. Gentiles are the great unknown, and the only interaction between the two groups early in the film is an exchange of insults between Driver and a pair of street hookers.
Driver's father dies early on, leaving the family in debt. Instead of marrying a rich old fish monger, as her mom wants, Driver takes on a Gentile name, Mary Blackchurch, and becomes a governess. Her first job is at the aforementioned remote estate, on a remote Scottish island, the Isle of Skye. Travel before the invention of railroads just sucks, but there are very nice shots of the North Sea, almost flat as a mirror at times. In any case, the archetypal trappings of the remote estate are there: a bratty charge, a distant wife, a dynamic if emotionally closed master of the house. Things develop as expected.
The second twist comes about in this part of the film. The estate's owner is an inventor, trying to come up with the right chemical solution to "fix" photographs, so the images captured by camera won't fade immediately after they're taken. So, woven into the usual governess story is a meditation on the capturing of indelible images and memories. This is a romanticized, compressed history of the invention of camera film, but it provides the filmmakers with a nice opportunity to show large, airy chambers filled with fluttering photographic prints, art photos that you won't find in Daguerreotype archives. Presumably, there was some meditation on eyes, observation and their relation to memory as well, but that was far too subtle for me, so we'll skip it.
The relationship between the lord of the manor and the governess is done fairly well, with the expected bright, sunlit moments amid sturm und drang as the affair's barometer bobs up and down. The lord's son makes an appearance later in the film; he's read too much Byron, apparently, something the flouncy shirt and haircut gives away. Hijinks and revenge ensue, and the governess leaves for the calmer environs of London by the end.
The epilogue is a curious one: she becomes a photographer in her own right, specializing in capturing the heritage of her people. This ending feels a little tacked on, as her people aren't really remarked on for most of the film, not in any meaningful way. Yes, there's a dramatic moment or two somewhere in there, and the Jewish-Gentile thing highlights her isolation in Scotland, but it's not organic to the film: she could have been a worshiper of Bob the Subgenius for all it mattered.
As a side note, I saw the preview for this film a couple of days later. Golly: what a Harlequin Romance! It's not that bad in real life. "The Governess" is supposed to be the director's first film, and it's a fine first effort. Some of the photography is gorgeous, though the movie was a little longer than it could have been. I didn't find the story that intriguing, but that may be me. Quite watchable.
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