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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
bittersweet feast, Dec 10 2000
A credible step back in time, this beautifully filmed period piece set in 19th century England follows the fortunes of a troubled young woman taken in by a family with three unmarried sons. Hospitality is sincere but conflicts of affections naturally develop. The mother in the household, severe and stoic in her aspect, slowly warms to the earnest and unassuming nature of their guest and a tenuous bond forms until conflicts emerge. The film portrays a variety of male characters with their array of emotions and situational ego struggles in an historic setting that draws you into the period as well as the story's building drama. Even the young woman's villianous past lover receives comprehensive treatment of the qualities of his character. The high-strung son's unbridled passion and the young woman's responding compassion that suddenly envelops these two uniquely tender and intense hearts is compelling and lifts the story above cliche. A fateful dilemma, born of sudden violence, confronts and pursues the young lovers and makes for a desperate moral/psychological impass, the conclusions of which are hauntingly profound. Casting of this film is flawless. Davidtz is just the sort of woman to stir any man's heart and her performance is utterly magnetic. As the center of a gripping and soulful story that stretches the heart to maximum understanding and acceptance, her poignant final scene is one that lingers in its hopeful promise.
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