ANGELS AND INSECTS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Humanity is seen as an analogue of
the insect world in this adaptation of a story by
A. S. Byatt. William Adamson is a naturalist
forced by circumstances to become part of an upper
class English family in the 1860s. Their household
melodrama parallels the insect world. Rating: low
+1 (-4 to +4)
In the 1860s naturalist William Adamson (played by Mark Rylance) has come back ten years in the Amazon jungle but on the way lost all his notes and specimens in a ship disaster. His patron, the Rev. Harald Alabaster (Jeremy Kemp), has invited Adamson to visit the Alabaster country estate. The Reverend Alabaster has embraced the teachings of Charles Darwin, albeit reluctantly, and is looking to Adamson to help him sort out his crisis of faith in the face of changing ideas. Adamson is struck by the beauty of Alabaster's daughter Eugenia (Patsy Kensit), but having lost everything he cannot hope to win her, particularly with Eugenia's snob brother Edgar (Douglas Henshall) reminding Adamson at every turn that while he is a guest at the Alabaster estate, he is of quite a lower station in life and must never think of himself as being anywhere near an equal. However, Eugenia's fiance committed suicide before Adamson knew her and with Eugenia's younger sister marrying Eugenia feels the need to be married. Knowing that she is considered out of his caste, Adamson offers what help he can give to Eugenia, even marriage, and is astounded when his unobtainable love readily accepts his offer. The marriage is an odd one and not wholly satisfying, but Adamson is able to channel his time into the study of ants on the Alabaster property. It is a study in which he is ably assisted by Matty Crompton (Kristin Scott Thomas), a quiet, spinsterish relation to the Alabasters also living at the estate. Adamson finds to his amazement that Crompton is at least his equal in intellect.
If all this sounds a little bit like a Jane Austen plot, the answer is yes, it is a little bit like that, but it is also very different in theme. There is also some Charlotte Bronte thrown in. And something more. The story, the photography, and even details like the costume design are intended constantly to compare and contrast the upper class society with the society of insects, particularly ants and butterflies. It does so as the odd behavior of the Alabaster family is developed. The problem is that the we note the odd behavior for so long that we start to wonder why we are being shown so much upper-class weirdness we no longer really want to understand the family. Eventually the viewer gets tired of waiting for some concrete development. It is not that there is not some interest to the study of the ant world and its comparison to the Alabaster family social structure. But the film seems aimless for too long before things tie together. The screenplay is by Belinda Haas who edited the film Philip Haas who directed. The same team did the same tasks on 1993's THE MUSIC OF CHANCE, which was a better film. While it was perhaps even more enigmatic than this film, it seemed like an enigma to better purpose.
ANGELS AND INSECTS is a bit of a disappointment and rates a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Incidentally, don't look too hard for angels. The book ANGELS AND INSECTS had two novellas, one having to do with angels, one with insects. This is an adaptation of "Morpho Eugenia," the novella about insects.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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