Angels & Insects

Although the critics fawned over this odd admixture of soft-core porn and heavy-handed metaphor, some viewers will guess early on the "secret" on which this Victorian dysfunctional family tale turns. Mark Rylance stars as a lower-class naturalist who woos and wins the flighty, aristocratic Patsy Kensit, and enters a seemingly happy existence, producing babies and watching ants. But, as the turgid narration constantly reminds us in its forays into bug/human analogy, nothing is quite as it seems. And speaking of turgid, we're not quite sure how this film got an "R"-rating, since one of the male cast leaps from bed sporting what is, clearly, a tumescent member. Not without its narrative charms, this adaptation of A.S. Byatt's is nevertheless an optional purchase.