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Caroline Pegg | ... | |
| Jodhi May | ... | ||
| Colin Firth | ... | ||
| Pam Ferris | ... | ||
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Grace Robinson | ... | |
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Jenny Howe | ... |
Cook
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Jason Salkey | ... | |
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Joe Sowerbutts | ... | |
A governess put in charge of two young children begins to see the ghost of her dead predecessor.
A wonderful screen adaptation of Henry James ghost story. There are a fair few versions of the story both direct and oblique (a recent, successful version was The Others with Nicole Kidman). This film manages capably the understated, romantic sweep and lyricism in Henry James prose with the shocks and insidiousness that are also hidden within.
Colin Firth, who was something of a superstar at the time, may only appear briefly as a mature Byronic patriarch at the beginning but it's all he needs to give the whole enterprise a sense of privation, melancholy and sexual charge. Consequently there's always the possibility that the Governess ('Miss' in this version) is projecting her own sexual longing into spaces rather than actually seeing sexually malign spectres. Johdi May nurtures this potential but in a straightforward performance of power without melodrama. It's all pretty creepy and engrossing. 7/10