The Governess

Here is the faint praise with which I ultimately damn The Governess: while I was consistently interested in the film, I'm not sure I could tell you the point. Certainly I could outline the plot, which involves a young Jewish woman named Rosina (Minnie Driver) in 1840s London who poses as a Christian to obtain a governess position with the family of a reclusive scientist (Tom Wilkinson). From there, things start to get a bit murky. Will the central conflict be a clash of Jewish and Protestant cultures? Will it involve a growing mutual affection between Rosina and her young charge (Florence Hoath)? Will the film set up a counterpoint between Rosina and the house's mistress (Harriet Walter) in a study of acceptable female roles? The answer to these questions and more is a resounding "sort of." The bulk of the narrative follows the developing romance between Rosina and her employer, a romance suffused with irony and rich background. Yet writer/director Sandra Goldbacher ultimately teases with background without making it add up to much. In the long run it's virtually irrelevant that Rosina is Jewish; it's even irrelevant that Rosina has a child to care for. The secondary characters are flat and uninvolving, leaving the performances of Driver and Wilkinson to fill in too many gaps. You'll find far more ambition than resolution in The Governess, a film that drowns in context desperately seeking some content. Not recommended. (S. Renshaw)