Wide Sargasso Sea

Backstory of the Shadowy Madwoman in the Attic
"Wide Sargasso Sea," a new television production by BBC Wales, based on the esteemed novel of the same title Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, has been broadcast in the United Kingdom, but has not been broadcast here. Nevertheless, lucky us, this sexy, tragic tale is now available for the first time for purchase on these shores. The film, as the novel on which it's based, functions as a prequel to famed British 19th century novelist Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics). And oddly enough, though "Jane Eyre" has been filmed many times, for big screen and small, this is only the second take of "Wide Sargasso Sea;" another, Australian-made version,Wide Sargasso Sea, intended for the big screen, came and went without notice in 1993, though it featured several...

Don't bother with this version, buy the original
Oh god, where to start. This version doesn't even compare to the original 2003 film. The original had heaps more content, actors that better fitted the parts, better costuming and magic. I found this version boring and it didn't do a good job of telling the story - probably partly due to the fact that half of the story seemed to be removed. Why would you bother to re-make such a great movie when you aren't even going to come close to the original? Spare yourself and buy this orginal instead:Wide Sargasso Sea

A masterpiece rendition of a literary masterpiece
Jean Rhys came to fame following her novel Wide Sargasso Sea. Most often the novel is read as a colonial-feminist corrective to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. The madwoman in the attic is here given a voice through her daughter who reenacts a self-same fate. The merits of the novel are manifold, and it is an exceptional feat that here is a rendition of the narrative with such vivid emotional energy and lush psychological initmations that it must be regarded as a magical piece of moviemaking. Mind you, my ratings are on the main consevative, but it would be best to append cum laude to this quiet production. The cast is outstanding so much so that the nuances of the tale are diffracted with dexterity while retaining the ambiguity of the textual equivocations, whereby no one character is easily packaged in an easy interpretation. Rather we see the coils and wranglings of passion, culture, conceit, pride, diffidence and the allure for the "other" with such sparkling clarity through a...

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