leplatypus Another great movie with Minnie ! It's sad that she had a meteoric career because she really stood out.Here, she plays a surprising Jew girl in Britain at Victorian time. Even if her family is wealthy, the death of her father leads her to search for work. She gets it as a governess of a spoiled young girl leaving in a isolated island. During her stay, she would find love and participate in the invention of photography. Thus, there are a lot of ideas, emotions, feelings here that makes a fast, gripping movie. I think that this lonely place helps to maximize the tension, all above that the sets and costume are beautiful and for modern eyes of cities settlers, it looks fairy! As it's about leaving home, making a trip and dividing faiths, it's funny to notice that human always carry a luggage that is weightless and is the ultimate glue for people: the libido! Unaware of it, even when Minnie is locked in a tiny island for working and inventing photography, this pulsing has accompanied her, lurking and waiting for the perfect time to get out: it's not really surprising that the first takes are nude composition and having lost her dear father, Minnie falls in love with the only mature man.As her story is told with a lot of heart, fragility and truth, it leaves a warmly memory!

jotix100 The myth of the governess in English literature, seems to have been the inspiration for film maker Sandra Goldbacher, who makes an auspicious debut with this feature. Never had a first time director been so blessed to be working with a winning team behind her. The glorious cinematography by Ashley Rowe, the music by Ed Shearmur, to name just two, make "The Governess" a satisfying movie to watch.We are taken to the England of the 1830s. The story shows us a Jewish family of means. Rosina, the oldest daughter is a sophisticated young woman who seems to thrive in that society. When her father is killed, Rosina's world goes to pieces. She decides to seek employment as a governess for a young girl in the Island of Skye, in the Hebrides. The trip Rosina undertakes in primitive transport makes her think whether she had made the right choice, or not. All she sees is the lush green of the English countryside around her. Her employers are a Scotish couple of means. Charles Cavendish is a man of science working in his own kind of photography. His wife, seems to be a woman who is bored out of her mind. The young charge, Clementina, doesn't like the idea of being bossed by the new governess. Rosina has changed her name and passes herself as a Christian by the name of Mary Blackchurch. There is also a young son, Henry, who is away at school.Mary, who has received an education in London, surprises Mr. Cavendish and soon becomes his assistant in his experiments. The admiration Charles feels toward the young woman soon turns into a passion that is reciprocated by Mary, who we are led to believe has not had any sexual experience before. This newly found passion in Charles soon gets the best of him as he feels it makes him neglect his interest, which has been helped immensely by Mary's innate intelligence.In a surprising turn of events, Mary decides that since she can't have Charles, she must leave the island and return to London, not before presenting Mrs. Cavendish with the naked picture of her husband she took, which appears to have been the excuse for the break in their illicit relationship. At the end, Rosina is back to London where she is seen practicing the new technique she learned by working with Charles in the island.Minnie Driver totally dominates the film. Her Rosina/Mary is perhaps her best role in her career. Some comments point to the fact that Ms. Driver seems older to play this woman, but in our humble opinion, she seems to have an understanding of the character and makes it come alive. Tom Wilkinson, a great actor that probably hasn't been recognized as he should, does an outstanding job in capturing Charles. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays Henry the son that comes back from school and ends up falling in love for the governess. Harriel Walter and Florence Hoath play Mrs. Cavendish and Clementina well.The film is a triumph for a novel director. Ms. Goldbacher clearly shows to be a voice to be reckoned with in the English cinema.

squareeyes This was slagged off in the Radio Times but I'd checked the viewer comments here and decided to watch it . My one main problem with this is Minnie Driver . She can't do restrained and repressed . It's not her . She's not Helena Bonham-Carter or Kristin Scott Thomas . The fragile English rose , she's not . Stillness doesn't suit her . When she lets rip at Tom Wilkinson she comes alive . Let's see some more of that kind of temperament in her performances . Apart from that it is a very well put together film although the wonderfulness of this Jewish woman alone in the Gentile world of the nineteenth century gets laid on with a trowel , somewhat . Nevertheless an interesting and unusual film .

TxMike "The Governess" is Mary Blackchurch's (her 'Christian' name) story. It is set in 1830s (we learn from the Daguerre reference) in London and the Scottish Isle of Skye, where she becomes a governess to help the family after her father is murdered. If we are to believe Ebert's instincts, it is the author's life story, much as "Boyz N the Hood" is.Being a photographer, I was 'hooked' when the film turned in that direction. Although not historically accurate, it certainly does a good job of depicting the trial and error used back in the 1800s to master a photographic process in which the resultant image could be "fixed". There was a British Cavendish, Henry, but he was not into photography. In this film, Mary accidentally helps discover a fixing process using ordinary salt water. Mary and Carles develop a bond, become lovers, Mary talks of their "future" together, Charles pulls away, "You consume me. I cannot be consumed."I cannot say too much about how fine a performance Minnie Driver gives here. Especially the scene near the end when she basically is willing to do anything, give anything, to avoid rejection by Charles. Failing, she returns to London, giving nude photos to Charles' wife, and taking along enough chemicals to get her started in her own photographic studio.Charles looks her up, she does a portrait, but the love she professed had been shattered beyond repair. She had given her whole self to Charles, had been rejected, and she moved on.This is a really fine film, different, but enjoyable in the vein of "Dangerous Beauty", another period piece where the female protagonist is empowered. The infidelity in "Governess" is certainly not glorified, but used in the context of a weak husband whose marriage was a routine formality, and a young girl who knew no boundaries, and found a soulmate for the first time.