The Governess . Tucson Weekly . 09-14-98

The Governess

DIRECTED BY: Sandra Goldbacher

REVIEWED: 09-14-98

Minnie Driver plays Rosina, a beautiful and spirited 19th-century Jewish girl whose life changes after her father dies, leaving the family destitute. To survive she must either marry a smelly old fishmonger, become a whore, or pass for a gentile and go work among the uptight goyim. So she becomes a governess (disguised under the vaguely Goth pseudonym Mary Blackchurch), and somehow manages to combine all three. She finds a position on an island and ends up falling for the man of the house, Mr. Cavendish (the utterly unappealing Tom Wilkinson), a brooding man of science. The two invent photography, oddly enough, but Cavendish is so repressed he freaks out because Rosina/Mary Blackchurch is forever wanting to get naked with him. (If you're dying to see Minnie Driver in the buff, this film is for you.) Meanwhile Cavendish's hot young son is swooning for Rosina, rolling around in her bedcovers and such, but she'll have nothing to do with him. This has the feel of a once-good script that's been homogenized and dumbed down by the movie studio for ease of digestion. First-time writer and director Sandra Goldbacher shows some spunk, but this ends up being just another one of those pointless period movies where everyone's always overcoming repressive times by having sex.

--Richter

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