Wide Sargasso Sea

2006 "Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys' steamy prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre"
5.6| 1h24m| en
Details

Dramatisation of Jean Rhys's novel set in 19th-century Jamaica. The tragic story of the first Mrs Rochester from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre centres on an arranged marriage between a white Creole heiress and a brooding Englishman, who fall in love only to be torn apart by rumours, paranoia and a cultural divide.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 7-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Ricardo Daly The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.
lamegabyte To understand why Rebecca excites me, you can look my posts about Crystal Klein (#39) and Laure Sinclair (#43), Ashley Smith (#76), Jade Nile (#92). All those babes are like Nomi Malone from « Showgirls », they are all look alike of the same girl i worked with for 3 years. That's when beauty is really a divine mix and is out of words : maybe taken together those 5 babes seems different, but for me, they all have a distinct feature I liked in my past coworker. With Rebecca, i would say her pout, her stance and her big smile ! It was luck that lead me to meet her : i have got a free movie ticket : i went to see « Frost vs Nixon » and Bam ! I'm sure also that Rebecca being British helped also because she has this distinct class of bearing that breaths education and politeness and for whatever reasons, i feel also very Anglo- Saxon in spite of being french ! In « VCB », « IR3 », she was definitely a great addition and delivered always great work ! Now, this Caribbean movie is so far the best she has done for me ! First good thing here is that the movie is ultra fast : 80 minutes ! Sure, as a novel adaptation, a lot has been cut but the essential is here and the pace is straight to the point : Rebecca plays with grace all her phases : the candid, the happy, the wounded and at last, the lunatic ! Her partner is also excellent because right from the start, he plays the fragile, anxious one… So in this humid jungle and lonely mansion, they are easy preys and fall to their doom.And her excerpt is really good: missionary style, grasping her lover and climaxing, very very hot!!
FeatherlessBiped Running 1:24, about 15 minutes shorter than the 1993 film, this one cut out much more of the plot, apparently by design as much as necessity. We never see Antoinette's traumatic childhood experiences or her convent-school education; she mentions them briefly later.After a lead-in scene previewing her time at Thornfield, the movie begins with Antoinette meeting Rochester for the first time. Some of its main drawbacks are immediately apparent. Antoinette, despite her West Indies upbringing, is portrayed as speaking with a native English accent (with occasional hints of Scots); she also comes across as more cheery and self-assured than in the book. Meanwhile, Rochester's brusque, rapid mumbling is often hard to understand.This production focuses almost exclusively on the one main relationship, with far less effort devoted to adding island "flavor" or other atmospheric components. Scenes of Antoinette and Rochester dominate the screenplay: their excitement at meeting and marrying each other, their passionate physical encounters, their later conflicts as Rochester grows uncertain about her background and his situation. We see a bit less of the scheming Christophine and the seductive Amelie and only the tiniest evidence of other servants. Daniel Cosway, bearer of secrets about Antoinette's past, appears suddenly, rather than making himself known to Rochester through letters. It all feels a bit rushed.Labeled NR (Not Rated), the film contains a few bits of female frontal nudity, some naked bodies placed strategically so nothing much shows, and lots of shadowy groping and panting.This film features some beautiful scenery and nice production values (film angles, lighting, costumes, etc.). Due to its questionable portrayals and abbreviated plot lines, though, I wouldn't recommend it as highly as the 1993 version.
David198 Thought-provoking, multi-layered, moving, gripping, with wonderful scenery and music, and outstanding performances from Rafe Spall (son of Timothy Spall) and especially Rebecca Hall (daughter of Peter Hall, previously seen in The Camomile Lawn). It deserves all the BAFTAs going! Hopefully it will be released on DVD before long.Based on the classic book by Jean Rhys, who was herself a Creole, written in 1966 - apparently one of the 'best 100 books ever' on Time's listings. It's an illuminating prequel to Jane Eyre, and a story which in my opinion is actually better than Bronte's classic.And I'm writing this as someone who can't stand Jane Eyre and wouldn't normally dream of watching this kind of film!
imperial_lemonade Having always been an avid lover of Jane Eyre, picking it apart in Eng. Lit. A-level was a painful and disillusioning experience, as Charlotte Bronte's startling racism is exposed, and you realise just how annoying Jane really is. The BBC 1 adaptation of the book has helped restore my love of the story, but THIS drama was truly inspiring. The doomed love affair was splendidly crafted. Edward Rochester, young, moody, disregarded by his family is coerced into marrying Antoinette Cosway-Mason, a beautiful, innocent girl of creole descent. After the initial passion, whispers of Antoinette's heritage, her promiscuity, and rumours of her mad murderous mother come to drive Rochester away from his wife. When he finds her beating a servant (who previously was abusing her mistress' non-white, non-black background), Rochester starts to believe in her hereditary madness, and becomes repulsed with the islands, their exotic honeymoon home and his ethnic wife. Rochester here seemed more moody than his older, chattering counterpart, but you have to remind yourself that this is the young man as he was, and it was refreshing to hear his perspective as well. 'Bertha's character by Rebecca Hall was sublime: shown with such sincerity, passion; complete, even down to the nuances of the regionally-indefinable accent. There are so many moving lines in this short drama. The scene where she yells 'My name is ANTOINETTE!' was gut-wrenching. When Antoinette reveals her mother's true story, we believe the rift is healed, and trust restored. Yet the unwise use of a love potion convinces him again of her betrayal, and his lust and vengeance lead to a powerful scene where Antoinette slumps against the door of her bedroom wherein her husband is -literally- banging the maid.Marvellous to watch, the loose camera-work and exotic locations bring together a flavour of mystery and mysticism, enhanced by the delicate melodies weaving in and out of the scenes, and the exotic, pulsating drum rhythms - I'd watch it again just to hear the soundtrack. All in all, it ends in tragedy for both; she driven mad by hatred for him, and he overcome by regret when he realises that it was his fault. We know he cared about her - it was clear in Jane Eyre; yet here it seems that it was just not enough. Mrs Rochester the First: in my opinion, infinitely better.