Wide Sargasso Sea

Billed as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Jean Rhys' 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea is adapted by Stephen Greenhorn in this 2006 made-for-TV production. Rhys' idea was clever and compelling: namely, to create a back story for the crazy woman stashed in Edward Rochester's attic while he romances governess Jane Eyre. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the young Rochester (Rafe Spall) arrives in Jamaica on family business, where he meets Antoinette Cosway (Rebecca Hall), a fetching young woman of Creole descent who happens to be Edward's friend Richard Mason's stepsister. The pair quickly marry, but no one seems thrilled: Rochester confesses to having “sold my soul” in order to get his hands on her dowry, while Antoinette's aunt prophesizes utter disaster. The newlyweds' first few days at a shabby cottage deep in the woods are filled with lust and romance, but before long a man claiming to be Antoinette's half-brother warns him that the Cosway family is haunted by madness, and that the girl herself is sure to be stricken next (all of which the humorless Edward buys without question). Although the film starts out like a typical episode of Masterpiece Theatre, with Brits conversing in drawing rooms, it soon heads in a more sensuous direction (including brief nudity), eventually becoming a Harlequin-esque bodice ripper, replete with aphrodisiacs, miscegenation, and dark portent laid on with a giant shovel. While nice to look at (the lovely cinematography takes advantage of the Jamaican locale), Wide Sargasso Sea is ultimately kind of silly. Optional. (S. Graham)