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Amy Foster [1998]
![Amy Foster [1998]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5183EA14V8L._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £3.93 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Based on the Joseph Conrad story "Amy Foster", Swept From the Sea, a swirlingly romantic melodrama, tells the story of a Polish sailor (Vincent Perez) shipwrecked and washed ashore on the English coast in the 19th century. Found by a servant girl, Amy (Rachel Weisz), who is a village outcast, he is considered retarded because no one can understand what he says. But slowly, through Amy's love and the doctor's tutelage, the sailor learns enough English to decide he wants to make an honest woman out of Amy, which doesn't sit well with the disapproving villagers, who don't like Amy. Even the doctor, who has a fondness for the sailor, has a blind spot when it comes to the servant girl. Strong performances and gritty period settings lift this film above bodice-ripper status to something richer. --Marshall Fine
Storm-lashed and Fate-lashed Couple
Review date: 2008-03-18 Rating: 8 out of 10
The story is basic but beautifully realized: a young Ukrainian (not Russian, as one or two others here seem to have thought) leaves his loving family in the Carpathians to emigrate to a better future in America in the 19th Century. He never makes it. He is sole survivor of a shipwreck and is washed up on the Cornish coast. He is treated pretty shabbily by most of the locals even after their fear of him as a madman (shaggy and does not speak English) has dissipated. Only the local doctor and a virtually mute girl, Amy, treat him in a civilized way. She later marries him and (after some other facts about her origins come to light) they are given a stone cottage high on a cliff, with an acre of land. They have a baby. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes but I shall not spoil the ending for anyone reading this review! Suffice to say that the film continues to be harrowing!
My wife remarked she never saw such lashing rain when we had the lease of a large country house in that county (or ancient kingdom), so it is interesting to note that some locations in North Yorkshire were used as well as the Cornish ones. Or perhaps Special Effects were to blame. Having said that, the locations are very good and most obviously in Cornwall. The accents of the principals are excellent: Rachel Weisz sounds Cornish to my ear and Perez, as the young Ukrainian, does sound, if not Ukrainian --- I cannot say --- then at least Russian (I studied the language and have been there).
Overall, this is an excellent film, emotionally rather wearing, but worth seeing. Quality.
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Reviews
LOVE IT!
Review date: 2008-02-19 Rating: 10 out of 10
I really loved this movie, the sort of movie you could watch again and again.
Tough Love
Review date: 2006-11-28 Rating: 6 out of 10
This is a challenging little period drama. It features a stellar cast of British actors including a couple of my favourites, Josh Ackland and Zoe Wanamaker. Initially it put me in mind of Pride and Prejudice, but that quickly gave way to Jude the Obscure. There is everything you would expect from the early 1800's, grim piety, xenophopia, hypocrisy. Perhaps it could even be a parable for modern times in some ways. Amy Foster has her own private treasures and is apparently incapable of taking care of her husband. If viewed from the perspective of a young couple from London who had relocated to Cornwall it would look like Straw Dogs. I cannot understand what this film has done to earn its 15 certificate apart from a rather touching and chaste scene depicting the act of love. Apart from that it is suitable for a cosy evening in, or even family viewing, providing neither you nor your children are prone to depression. May also interest anyone who likes Cornish scenery.
Great Film
Review date: 2005-10-05 Rating: 8 out of 10
This film is well worth watching, it is a great film, but not a classic ~ which in summary is a very sad and gritty love story.
Beautifully filmed, directed and acted.
It avoids a hollywood ending (which is rare these days), but as a result, the reality does leaves you feeling slightly hollow.
Swept from the Sea
Review date: 2003-02-14 Rating: 10 out of 10
This magnificent film based on Joseph Conrad's 'Amy Foster' is filled with the timeless grace of classic literature. The Cornwall English coast has never been so beautifully photographed as it is here in this story of two hearts saving each other from a life of loneliness.
Rachel Weisz uses her open and beautiful face to marvelous effect, conveying the accumulated hurt and resolve of a girl who has lived her entire life deprived of love. Her father resents her for the marriage her arrival into the world forced him into and her mother witholds her love because of a much deeper shame Amy is unaware of. Amy counters their unkindness with a silence that seems strange to those around her and casts her heart upon the sea, waiting for it to be reborn.
When the sole survivor of a shipwreck washes ashore and is treated in the same manner as Amy because he is Russian and can not communicate with those around him their hearts connect instantly, a deeply moving yet simple act of human kindness when she washes his feet and offers him bread never to be forgotten, setting the tone for the entire film. Vincent Perez gives a perfect performance as the Russia stranger who is lost and helpless in a foreign land. It is as if the sea Amy so dearly loves has felt her hurt and brought her love.
Ian McKellan and Kathy Bates lend depth to this tender and tragic tale revolving around the sea. It will leave you with the feeling you get upon finishing a classic book, knowing it will linger long afterward in your heart and mind. This is a deeply romantic film, spare and beautiful, laced with tenderness and love.
Do not, under any circumstances, miss this fine film....
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Rachel Weisz
Ian McKellen
Vincent Perez
Joss Ackland
Kathy Bates
Creators:
Vincent Perez (Primary Contributor)
Rachel Weisz (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
EAN: 5024165779545
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 1999-03-15
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 109 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1998-01-23
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Hindi (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)