A Film Review by James Berardinelli
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UK/US, 1995
U.S. Release Date: beginning 1/96 (limited)
Running Length: 1:57
MPAA Classification: R (Sex, nudity, mature themes)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Mark Rylance, Patsy Kensit, Kristin Scott Thomas, Douglas Henshall, Jeremy Kemp, Annette Badland, Saskia Wickham
Director: Philip Haas
Producers: Belinda Haas, Lindsey Law, Kerry Orent, and Joyce Herlihy
Screenplay: Philip Haas and Belinda Haas based on the novella Morpho Eugenia by A.S. Byatt
Cinematography: Bernard Zitzermann
Music: Alexander Balanescu
U.S. Distributor: The Samuel Goldwyn Company
In the words of actor Douglas Henshall, Angels and Insects, the latest film from Music of Chance writer/director Philip Haas, is "Merchant Ivory meets Tennessee Williams." It's a fair comparison. The movie is a period piece, taking place in the late 1850s and early 1860s, but the air of Victorian restraint is frequently disturbed by aggressive displays of sexuality. However, unlike the work of either Merchant & Ivory or Tennessee Williams, Angels and Insects is a presentation of ideas over characters. And, although competently acted, it lacks the one standout performance which could have transformed it from a fascinating motion picture to a great one.
Angels and Insects, based on A.S. Byatt's novella Morpho Eugenia, opens in Victorian England with the arrival of naturalist William Adamson (Mark Rylance) at the demesne of the Alabaster family. William was recently shipwrecked on his return journey from South America, and, in that disaster, lost all of his worldly possessions. Reverend Alabaster (Jerermy Kemp), keen to have an educated scientist help with a book he is writing, invites William to live in his house. Once there, he becomes infatuated with the serenely beautiful-but-cold Eugenia (Patsy Kensit), the eldest daughter of the Alabasters. Although not hopeful that a match is likely, William nevertheless courts Eugenia, and is greatly surprised when she accepts his marriage proposal. But a dark secret in her past cannot stay buried forever.
In many ways, this film is a study in contrasts: the passionate abandon of the South American natives to the structured restraint of England's Victorian aristocrats, Darwin's evolution to the Bible's creation, butterflies to ants, and beauty to intelligence. Haas wants us not only to understand the rigidity of life on the Alabaster estate, but to see the decadence that bubbles just beneath the surface. Eugenia's apparent physical perfection, which enthralls William, hides a dead, ravaged soul.