Angels and Insects . Tucson Weekly . 02-29-96

Angels and Insects

DIRECTED BY: Philip Haas

REVIEWED: 02-29-96

A semi-creepy tale of lust and romance between perpetually uptight Victorians. A poor naturalist is taken in by a wealthy benefactor and eventually marries his beautiful but distant daughter. At first all seems well, but a sense of corruption and decay is stalking the not-so-happy clan. Apparently Tolstoy was wrong about the variety among unhappy families--they all seem to be alike these days. (See Mary Reilly for bad-family-of-origin cross references.) There are fascinating shots of bugs throughout, serving a variety of metaphorical purposes, but mostly they just look cool. Based on the novella by A.S. Byatt, this is an intelligent, literate film that unfortunately relies on an "unexpected" and completely predictable "secret" for its energy.

--Stacey Richter

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Angels and Insects

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