The class divisions and emotional repressions -- meat and potatoes -- of Victorian England. The aggressively modern perspective (A.S. Byatt original novella, full frontal nudity of both sexes, and the major innovation of the movie: punctuation marks -- periods -- after each of the opening credits) knocks some of the stuffiness out of the Literary Adaptation trade, though large amounts of dryness and bookishness still remain. And the literally literary Happy Ending seems very apt. Mark Rylance, Patsy Kensit, Kristin Scott Thomas, Douglas Henshall, Jeremy Kemp; directed by Philip Haas. (1996) — Duncan Shepherd
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