The Governess opens in London of the 1840s where Rosina, Minnie Driver, a sheltered Jewess, lives a pampered life with her parents and sister - but when her father dies rather mysteriously, the family needs money and Rosina, who has always wanted to be an actress, decides to pose as a gentile, changes her name to Mary Blackchurch, and successfuly applies for the post of governess to a family living on the Isle of Skye. She`s soon attracted to the master of the house, Tom Wilkinson, an obsessed man of science busily inventing photography - she proves amazingly good at helping him, and they`re soon in one another`s arms, casting all inhibitions aside.
This is a beautifully made but rather silly film. It`s impossible to believe in the central character, who`s just too good to be true - she`s adept at science - she discovers the missing ingredient needed to invent photography - but she`s an artist at heart, and she`s a demon in the bedroom. Minnie Driver plays the role with wide-eyed energy and a most unbecoming wardrobe. Everyone else looks a bit fazed in the presence of this paragon, especially Jonathan Rhys Meyers, very wet as the troubled son of this strange household. Writer-director Sarah Goldbacher has a filmmaker`s eye, but all too often she goes for the pictorial effect rather than for substantive, and credible, drama...
