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:

A dream. A lie. A wager. Love.

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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:

AUD 16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$137,163, 4 January 1998, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,508,689, 15 March 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?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

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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

[last lines]
Narrator: When Dennis Hasset told Lucinda the baby's history, she had only one thought in mind.
[Lucinda growls]
Narrator: [laughing]
[laughing]
Narrator: A dream, a lie, a wager - love. This is the story Lucinda gave to my grandfather... and I give to you.
Oscar Hopkins: [as Oscar's Great Grandson] All right. Let's go home.
[Oscar's Great Great Granddaughter nods]
Oscar Hopkins: Yeah? Check for rocks.
[Choir singing]

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Motetten - Lobet die Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Rochester Motettenchoir and Capella Fidicinia Leipzig
Courtesy of Capriccio Digital

User Reviews

admirable work

film of a state. not an ordinary one, not easy to define it , unique, provocative, refuge and desert, giving brilliant performances and special atmosphere. a film for remind. old lectures, pictures and situations, characters and meets. and, in same measure, good opportunity to escape. in a fragile, convincing, ambiguous universe. it is a film who must see. for performances and for great cinematography. for lovely trip in the essence of things. and for the delicate portrait of life. and, maybe, for the flavor of a surprising parable. it is it. a trip. across vulnerable worlds and steps in the middle of a kind of fairy tale.