Here's a movie which appears to have a lot going for it: adaptation of a Booker Prize novel, directed by Gillian Armstrong, Ralph Fiennes straight from his triumph in the English Patient, and Cate Blanchett in her first significant role. I haven't read the novel -- and after seeing the movie I certainly won't. This is a strange story (whose plot I won't repeat for anyone wishing to be surprised) with characters that are completely unconvincing, despite the best efforts of Fiennes and Blanchett, in a story that might serve the fantastical imagination of certain directors. Gillian Armstrong is not one of those. Instead we are given a semi-realistic exposition of a tale that never inspires the suspension-of-disbelief necessary to put it across. Pay no attention to the names on the marquee. This is not a good movie, merely an odd one.
Review of Oscar and Lucinda
