Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating, curious film
Review: "Angels and Insects" presents the stifling malaise in which the rich spent their days in Victorian England with a crisp lens, yet also provides viewers with two extremely sympathetic and truly interesting characters - Mark Rylance's William and Kristin Scott Thomas's Matty. William is a good, decent man who lets passion overcome the reason he has honed for his entire scientific life and lead him into an ill-advised, somewhat primeval marriage to the radiant, yet hollow Eugenia). His only escape is his work, and in this work he is joined by the perfect woman for him (the film does a great job of employing the complex scientific discoveries in a number of scenes). Rylance is very good - his William maintains a quiet dignity in the most compromising scenes and his actions always ring true. Scott-Thomas is fantastic - her Matty is one of the strongest, most complex female characters I've seen in recent films. She is William's quasi-protector and a scholar of the highest quality, yet her self-doubt and love for William are always apparent, and even in her penultimate scene with William, as she almost begs for him to accept her as his research companion, she never seems weak or desperate. The shock near the end of the film is handled deftly and with gentleness, although the metaphorical sequences leading up to it grow a little tiresome. This is a fascinating, curious film with two remarkable characters at its center.
Rating: 
Summary: Bringing Out The Animal In Us
Review: "You don't like suspense?"
"No, I don't. I'm afraid of surprises."
"I must remember never to surprise you then."
This petite exchange of the ins and outs of surprises per se, is a guaranteed herald of one gargantuan surprise that will turn the world of Victoriana upside down and in the process reveal a time abhorred sexual aberration. Does this introduction yet pique your interest?
William Adamson (Mark Rylance) portrays an entomologist who has recently come back to England after years spent in the rainforests and sweltering infernos of the Amazon. His voyage back is not without misfortune, as his ship sinks with all of his prized possessions lost to the sea. He has had a benefactor in his pursuit of scientific ventures, Sir Harald Alabaster (Jeremy Kemp), a gentrified country minister who is the pater familias of a large number of offspring; seven girls of varying ages, and one son. Sir Harald is an ardent collector of zoological and entomological paraphernalia, and as such, was expecting great discourses of newly gained objects for his collections. Adamson does not disappoint and this is the crux of the story. He brings back a surprise, the only thing saved -- a rare species of butterfly, the Morpho Eugenia. Around this fanciful and beautiful creature, his life and the lives of those he will touch, will change forever.
One of the daughters, Eugenia (Patsy Kensit) has managed to capture Adamson's fancy, although he has nothing to offer her in the way of money or position. She is a strange being, an enigma that will not easily be solved. Her brother, Edgar (Douglas Henshall) is overly protective of her concerns, to such an extent as to raise questions in the process, but with nothing being elevated orally to debate the wherewithal's and how to's of such brotherly love. Adamson eventually marries Eugenia, but not without all of the problems that have plagued mankind since time immemorial -- in-laws and how to live with them.
A governess to the younger Alabaster children, Matty Crompton (Kristin Scott Thomas), parlays a venture into being seen and heard, much to the dissatisfaction of a jealous Eugenia who cannot begin to compete with the brains and intellect that Matty possesses and uses as she sees fit. It is through Matty that Adamson will eventually see the world through shattered rose coloured glasses, but not before the discourse of several Adamson children that Eugenia will bear and whose lineage comes into question in a most violent way.
Angels and Insects is a period piece unlike any you are likely to see now or in the foreseeable future. It is beautifully rendered and projects an image of high Victorian Gothic, much the same as William Faulkner would have realized this story if it had been orchestrated into his capable mind and hands and into the Old South. Its texture is rich and luxurious and Belinda and Philip Haas have woven a screenplay from A.S. Byatt's novella, Morpho Eugenia, into a tapestry of colours and events that mature into a symphony of intricacies and elaborations.
Mark Rylance as William Adamson, is absolute perfection in the role of a mild mannered naturalist who becomes all too unmanicured when the situation is warranted and his hand is finally forced. His slow descent into the maelstrom of deceit by his wife is masterfully brought to fruition by his skillful depiction.
Patsy Kensit as the shy and yet sexually motivated Eugenia, is a study in contrasts as she plays Adamson for a perfect fool and in the process becomes the architect of her own undoing. Her work is exacting and precise, and she is the perfect compliment to both Rylance and Henshall.
Jeremy Kemp as Eugenia's father, is a man caught in a web, who sees nothing except his own eventual demise and likening it to the world of zoology as he has always known it to be. Kemp's frustrations parallel the insect world as do those of his wife, Lady Alabaster (Annette Badland) and his children, who can be seen as the Queen of the colony and the larval progeny that a male is only good for, and how, when he has presented his services, is thrust all the more into the background of the colony. How life imitates art, or in this sense, nature.
Douglas Henshall as Edgar, is a foul debasement wearing the skin of humanity in its lowest form. He is the spoiled only son and eldest child, and his life revolves around his own pleasures and not those of others around him. He lives for the moment and is cruel in his shows of affection or attention, as he sees fit. As Adamson tells him, he serves no useful purpose. To see Kemp dress him down at the dinner table in one scene is perfect comeuppance to Edgar's egotistical ways. His father amply deflates his balloon in front of the assembled family and Edgar cowers at the bellowing. In one of the final scenes of the film, the denouement between Kensit, himself and Rylance is the volcano erupting with disastrous results for the menage a trois.
Kristin Scott Thomas is a chameleon, who discourses a new personality with each film she participates in. Her Matty is the severe governess, with a penchant for realism and an eager determination to better herself, without the courtesies of the Alabaster family, who see her as nothing more than hired help. Her scenes with Rylance show a strong woman, with a head on her shoulders and willing to use it -- something rare today in films that want to, on an all too regular basis, regurgitate women as nothing more than sex objects.
Costume designer, Paul Brown, has brought a virtual explosion of a painter's palette in designs. The rich sapphire blues, the cherry reds, yellows the colour of the sun, greens as dark as an unlit forest. The attention paid to little details and accompaniments, the jewelry, the hats, the hairstyles, evoke an era not likely to be repeated and gone forever, except through the vision of people like Brown. He is known primarily as a theatre designer (Richard II and Coriolanus with Ralph Fiennes in 2000), but his foray onto the big screen is a delirious introduction to movie going audiences who appreciate a good eye for detail.
Art direction has not gone unnoticed, and the mastery of Jill Quertier, as set dresser, is amplified through the continued perfection that betrays itself with each and every scene. You are seeing the height of Victorian elegance and the world as the Victorians saw it, with all the furniture and little bits and pieces that made it the overstuffed era it has become known for. Production designer, Jennifer Kernke, has parlayed her research into a virtual field day for historians and collectors of antiquarian wares.
Cinematography by Bernard Zitzermann is spectacular! The rich and vibrant colours of the English countryside, the gorgeous interiors, his command of nature and the parades of insects that bring back memories of 'Days of Heaven' and the work of Nestor Almendros, and 'The Good Earth' and Karl Freund, with their rich camerawork sketching the world of insects and the world they live in. Zitzermann is a worthy member of that illustrious group.
Director Philip Haas tightly controls his cast and exudes a decided eye for detail and attention to all things great and small. He pulls performances from his cast that echo a complete knowledge of a time and place that they have become a part of for the time allotted.
Music by Alexander Balanescu is remarkably sumptuous and evocative of the impressionistic work of Debussy or Faure and it is seductive in its melodies and strings that draw the listener ever closer into the secret lives of this tightly strung Victorian household. It is not easy to forget this score he has wrought, and it presents a worthy accompaniment to the film.
Angels and Insects explores the various worlds of Victorian times -- the class system, science (through the published work of Charles Darwin and his "The Origin of Species"), religion, morality, mortality, secrets and lies. We are taken into a tightly knit conglomerate that dwelled within its own confines and structures, as they live their lives with specific roles to be played and parlayed into futures of their own making and desires.
Angels and Insects is not a film for everyone, and there may be those who might take offense at the subject matter existing for our perusal. For me, though, it is an elegant film, troubling to be sure, but accepted for what it is -- a statement into the way things were and sadly, are continued to this day. If you choose to see this film, you will not be disappointed, but rather enlightened into things that you may never known to have been.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating, curious film
Review: "Angels and Insects" presents the stifling malaise in which the rich spent their days in Victorian England with a crisp lens, yet also provides viewers with two extremely sympathetic and truly interesting characters - Mark Rylance's William and Kristin Scott Thomas's Matty. William is a good, decent man who lets passion overcome the reason he has honed for his entire scientific life and lead him into an ill-advised, somewhat primeval marriage to the radiant, yet hollow Eugenia). His only escape is his work, and in this work he is joined by the perfect woman for him (the film does a great job of employing the complex scientific discoveries in a number of scenes). Rylance is very good - his William maintains a quiet dignity in the most compromising scenes and his actions always ring true. Scott-Thomas is fantastic - her Matty is one of the strongest, most complex female characters I've seen in recent films. She is William's quasi-protector and a scholar of the highest quality, yet her self-doubt and love for William are always apparent, and even in her penultimate scene with William, as she almost begs for him to accept her as his research companion, she never seems weak or desperate. The shock near the end of the film is handled deftly and with gentleness, although the metaphorical sequences leading up to it grow a little tiresome. This is a fascinating, curious film with two remarkable characters at its center.
Rating: 
Summary: STUNNING SCREENPLAY AND AMBIENCE CARRY AN INVISIBLE PLOT
Review: A glossy period piece supposedly about Victorian era values and society that achieves its stunning beauty through sumptuous costumes, jungle dances that carry the primal oomph of beasts, and the strict house rules of an 'old money' British house. The film starts very promisingly with its relaxed but vivid cinematography, but about 30 minutes into the film, very little has happened. The beat picks up a bit at the end when emotions get caught up in crosshairs of a triangular romance, but by then it's probably too late. So there is precious little to expect from the script department, although anglophiles may find some linguistic cookies to savour. Yet, the direction is so immaculate that the film could be coursework in film schools. The screenplay epitomizes passionate symbolism and draws the viewer with the precision of a bee hive, gradually but surely, as the film progresses. The women are doted on by servants like a queen bee. A bunch of moths overpower our female protagonist in a private moment, much like the flares of her passion. A scene in which two scholars are studying a colony of red ants that invade a colony of black is followed by a fox hunt -- the well-to-do in their red jackets, the servants in black. If you're not expecting any fireworks from a riveting plot, but want to enjoy a fascinatingly put together work of very classy cinema, I highly recommend this visual feast. But it's not for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Jane Austen meets "Emmanuelle"
Review: A penniless 19th century Darwinist comes under the auspices of an upper crust Victorian family, and his scientific studies of local insectia becomes a thinly-veiled observation of human nature. Sounds like yet another sleepy costume drama, doesn't it? Well, look again, my friend and fasten your seatlbelt for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on an English estate! There's something very nasty in the woodshed, indeed. Even though most astute viewers will guess the Tennessee Williamsesque "family secret" a good 45 minutes before it is revealed (thanks to some rather obvious clues early on), the exquisite cinematography, flawless acting and a fair amount of soft-core sex scenes ("Mary Poppins" this ain't!)will hold your interest. If you enjoyed "Cold Comfort Farm", you'll go for this one in a big way.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning and shocking!
Review: A wealthy Victorian family is teeming with sexual restraint. Enter, a poor naturalist who falls in love with the beautiful daughter of the head of the household. She appears to be afraid of sex, yet she has secrets that her new husband cannot even begin to imagine. The governess, exquisitely and masterfully portrayed by Kristen Scott Thomas, barely conceals her powerful attraction to the naturalist. He attempts to ignore her, despite his wife's lack of sexual interest in her husband. However, Thomas's character has a keen intelligence and gift for studying nature, which was at its zenith during the Victorian period. The two naturalists are drawn together by their interests. As the story evolves, Thomas attempts to reveal the reality of the family that supports the naturalist. In doing so, she is at once subversive and mysterious. Yet there is no doubt that the naturalist must know the world in which he resides. Like the Age of Innocense, the tension is almost unbearable, but unlike that film, Angels and Insects unveils the bizarre nature of human beings when desires are forced "underground." In "Insects," the insects appear to be the only living things that are normal. This beautifully atmospheric and Victorian drenched film will shock some viewers. But it will also enlighten those who think that the good old days were "good." There is a butterfly scene that is magnificient.
Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: A well done film depicting the sexuality and perversion seething below the genteel surface of Victorian aristocracy.
Rating:
Summary: Victorian society as a world of butterflies and ants
Review: A young naturalist, William Adamson (Mark Rylance), returns from ten years in the Amazon collecting rare specimens, only to see all but one butterfly lost in a shipwreck. You would think that things could not get worse for the young Scotsman, but when he presents that one butterfly to Sir Harald Alabaster (Jeremy Kemp), he becomes ensnared in an even more uncivilized world than that of the jungles of South America.
Adapted from A.S. Byatt's novella "Morpho Eugenia," this 1995 film is a visually stunning period piece, set in Victorian England just as the ideas of Charles Darwin are providing a new way of looking at the social strata of British society. The fact that Adamson studies insects will be of great help in understanding the Alabaster family. Adamson comes to their country home at the invitation of Sir Harald and to organize his insect collection. At a ball Adamson dances with Eugenia Alabaster (Patsy Kensit), who is recovering from the tragedy of having her fiancé kill himself shortly before their wedding. She is beautiful but cold and when she responds to Adamson's kindness her over-protective brother, Edgar (Douglas Henshall) warns him off making stupid comments about keeping the bloodline pure. As a scientist Adamson dismisses such beliefs as nonsense, as does Sir Harald, but he should have paid more attention because Edgar is more than a loose cannon in this household.
William and Eugenia are married, but after enjoying a night of carnal rapture, the new husband finds that his wife's bedroom door is locked to him. A pattern is established as Eugenia produces children, brings William back to her bed, and then endures another languorous pregnancy. Meanwhile, Adamson assists the family tutor, Matty Crompton (Kristin Scott Thomas) in educating the family's youngest daughters in the ways of nature, and eventually their is a grand plan to study a colony of red ants. Adamson will write a scholarly treatise and Matty will provide the illustrations. It will give Adamson something to do between his yearly nights with his wife.
Director Philip Haas provides an apt metaphor for "Angels and Insects" when Adamson shows the young ladies, their tutor, and governess a piece of wood on the forest floor. He turns it over and reveals the teeming insect life that lives beneath it. There is enough about the ways and means of ants to make it clear that this metaphor is a full-blown conceit in the film (Eugenia is a fragile butterfly, while Matty is a worker ant). But it is also foreshadowing since there is something quite not right in the Alabaster family home. This is a place where the servants turn their faces to the wall when the members of the family pass on the stairs or in the hall. Yet we know that seeing is not always necessary to knowing deep dark secrets.
There is a point in "Angels and Insects" where you have a notion of what would constitute a happy ending, but how and why it comes to pass ends up being a surprise. This is a film where you cannot say too much because that would give away the game. The pace is rather slow, but before our interest can lag there our exquisite little moments in the film, such as when an elaborate program of charades down with tableaus and costumes is enacted for the family. The point this film has to make about the congestive rot of Victorian society has been made before, but this film has the advantage of its stylish conceit as in the end the angels prove to be an illusion and the insects the only reality.
Rating:
Summary: Angels and Incest
Review: All the surfaces of this movie are magnificent: the photography, the colors, the costumes, and the casting. I think the casting should receive some sort of award for genetic perspicacity: Father and son (and even gradchildren) look terribly alike, a most difficult casting accomplishment. And the acting is extraordinary, not only by the main characters, but by all the extras, and by the insects and by the moths and butterflies. How amazing to see manorial servants turn their backs and hide their faces when encountering a lady or gentleman in the hall; did not Hillary attempt to institute such a custom in the White House? But when the substance of this movie is disected, the corpus is very slim indeed; and it all hinges on brother-sister incest. This aberration is not handled in a particularly enlightened way, but it does provide a sense of "depth" and importance to the action. The actual resolution of the incest, once discovered, would have led to an impressive movie, but there is no resolution. Instead we see the innocent protagonist, once more in love, heading for the Amazon river with his new honey. That action, too, could have provided a more substantial story line than the present skinny one. In the end the movie is good entertainment. It does not make it as anthropology, of sociology, or sexology despite flirting briefly with each. It gets four stars for having kept me fixed on the screen without eliciting a single yawn.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: Although I wasn't crazy about this film, I will admit that it has fine acting, lovely reproduction of the Victorian era, and a somewhat creative plot (although the ending seemed a little sudden). If you have a taste for the slightly bizarre, you might like this. And in case you dislike nudity in movies, don't worry--it's not so bad, and tastefully done.
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