Oscar and Lucinda (1997)

In mid-1800's England, Oscar is a young Anglican priest, a misfit and an outcast, but with the soul of an angel. As a boy, even though from a strict Pentecostal family, he felt God told him... See full summary »

Director:

Gillian Armstrong

Writers:

Peter Carey (novel), Laura Jones (screenplay)

Stars:

Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, Ciarán Hinds

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ralph Fiennes	...	Oscar Hopkins
Cate Blanchett	...	Lucinda Leplastrier
Ciarán Hinds	...	Reverend Dennis Hasset (as Ciaran Hinds)
Tom Wilkinson	...	Hugh Stratton
Richard Roxburgh	...	Mr. Jeffries
Clive Russell	...	Theophilus
Bille Brown	...	Percy Smith
Josephine Byrnes	...	Miriam Chadwick
Barnaby Kay	...	Wardley-Fish
Barry Otto	...	Jimmy D'Abbs
Linda Bassett	...	Betty Stratton
Geoffrey Rush	...	Narrator (voice)
Polly Cheshire	...	Young Lucinda
Gillian Jones	...	Elizabeth Leplastrier
Robert Menzies	...	Abel Leplastrier

Storyline

In mid-1800's England, Oscar is a young Anglican priest, a misfit and an outcast, but with the soul of an angel. As a boy, even though from a strict Pentecostal family, he felt God told him through a sign to leave his father and his faith and join the Church of England. Lucinda is a teen-aged Australian heiress who has an almost desperate desire to liberate her sex from the confines of the male-dominated culture of the Australia of that time. She buys a glass factory and has a dream of building a church made almost entirely of glass, and then transporting it to the Australian Outback. Oscar and Lucinda meet on a ship going to Australia; once there, they are for different reasons ostracized from society, and as a result "join forces" together. Oscar and Lucinda are both passionate gamblers, and Lucinda bets Oscar her entire inheritance that he cannot transport the glass church to the Outback safely. Oscar accepts her wager, and this leads to the events that will change both their lives...

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Plot Keywords:

church | glass | australia | wager | inheritance | 

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Taglines:

They dared to play the game of love, faith, and chance.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a scene of sexuality, and for brief violence

Details

Country:

USA Australia UK

Language:

English French

Release Date:

31 December 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Oscar og Lucinda

Filming Locations:

Boscastle, Cornwall, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

AUD 16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

DEM 60,842 (Germany) (26 June 1998)

Gross:

DEM 60,842 (Germany) (26 June 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), Dalton Films, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Oscar & Lucinda race each other in scrubbing a passageway - but in doing so, they crawl over their handiwork. For a clean floor, you scrub going backwards.

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Quotes

[On how Christians are by nature gamblers]
Oscar: We bet that there is a God.

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Connections

Referenced in Lost in Austen: Episode #1.3 (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Haec Dies"
Written by John Sheppard
Performed by The Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Conducted by Philip Ledger
Courtesy of EMI Records UK and EMI Music Australia Pty. Ltd.

User Reviews

Under-rated, surprising, beautiful

The marketing for this film in America was absurd when compared to the real thing. I had seen the trailers, and as I am intrigued by anything with Ralph Fiennes, I took notice. However, the preview stressed an gambling-chance-obsessive fun aspect that I found less than compelling. Had the true soul and purpose of the movie come through in that two minute-long advert, I would have been hooked. As it was, I waited until it came out on video.

My expectations, coloured by this misleading trailer, were well exceeded. The film had to do with love and gambling, yes, but there were elements of faith, guilt, family, destiny and survival that were wholly ignored in the press. Ralph Fiennes is marvellous as a disheveled and uncertain faithful, with a boyish charm and utter purity that is difficult to portray without seeming slow-witted or unlikeable. Cate Blanchett, who has received a tremendous amount of notice for her recent portrayal of Elizabeth, is a fountain of strength, charm, capricious abandon, intelligence and sensuality. Like her minor role in _Paradise Road_, she steals scenes and breaks hearts with an undeniable charisma and resolve.

Set in Australia, the story is surprising, and ultimately shocking in its constrast of the ideal and the real. I was moved, and thoroughly impressed with this movie. This is a romance for those who are tired of the predictable, the trite and the overworked. The scenery is beautiful, and the direction is both soft and unflinching. A wonderful achievement.

--Salome