Reviewed: 10.30.09
Star rating: 3 out of 5
Sophie Marceau (Elisabeth), Stephen Dillane (Charles), Dominique Belcourt (Louisa), Kevin Anderson (John), Lia Williams (Constance), Joss Ackland (Lord Clare).
Elisabeth agrees to conceive a child with Charles and give him the baby when it is born in exchange for money enough to pay her family debts. The agreement is that she will never see the child again as Charles wants an heir and his paralyzed wife is unable to conceive. But 7 years later Elisabeth tracks down her daughter Louisa and is hired by Constance, not knowing who she is, to be the childs governess.
This one kicks off at a mediocre pace and never really builds any more momentum. With a bit of plot and character history combined and out of the way, the film settles in to telling an often sad but entertaining love story. Make no mistake, this is a paperback romance on film with a couple of nude scenes tossed in to keep accidental male viewers entertained. Though I'm not a big fan of romances this one was actually pretty good. The plot was decent and there was just enough intrigue and angst to keep things interesting.
Acting was pretty good by most everyone involved though Belcourt seemed a bit over the top a couple of times. The idea of John asking a woman he barely knows to marry him was hard to swallow but really, that wasn't Anderson's fault. That was just his character.
Camera work, sets, and backgrounds were all nicely done though a bit dark in parts. Excellent lighting used to accent Marceau's features. Sound, dialogue and score were also nicely done giving the feeling of a quality film.
Overall this was a pretty good romance with a nice, if bland, storyline. It helped that Marceau is very enjoyable to look at, and even more so when naked. With adult content, language, nudity, and fairly explicit sex scenes save this one for adults and above. If you are a romance genre fan you will probably enjoy this one more than most.
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