Oscar and Lucinda (1997)

In mid-1800s 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 10 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-1800s 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 Bellingen, a remote settlement on the north coast. 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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

glass | church | 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 e Lucinda

Filming Locations:

Boscastle, Cornwall, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

AUD16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$83,461, 4 January 1998

Gross USA:

$1,897,404

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,897,404

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?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

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Goofs

While taking the glass church from Sydney to Bellingen, Oscar crosses the scenic Blue Mountains. They should not be on his route.

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Quotes

Narrator: In order that I exist, two gamblers, one obsessive, the other compulsive, must meet.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Tomorrow Never Dies/Mousehunt/As Good as it Gets/Kundun/Oscar and Lucinda (1997)

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Soundtracks

Motet - Os Justi
Written by Anton Bruckner
Performed by La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent (as Collegium Vocale Ghent)
Ensemble Musique Oblique
Conducted by Philippe Herreweghe
Courtesy of Harmonia Mundi S.A. France

User Reviews

This one is for Fiennes!?

After a slow beginning, Oscar and Lucinda meet and create a peculiar relationship with God on one side and the addiction of gambling on the other. The last half hour is quiet fascinating as Oscar takes a journey to sail a glass church down the river and into a small secluded town. This unfortunately was treated with rather hastily, not given the attention the early scenes received. But we still get the picture and by the end of it Ralph Fiennes' brilliant performance as the saintly manic, bible guilt-ridden, phobia riddled Oscar, makes it worth the while.