SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Konterr Brilliant and touching

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

gabste This movie from the beginning to the end is just gripping. The music, acting, and story line is thrilling right from the beginning scene. A wonderful introduction scene to a love affair movie. All of the actors are fantastic in this movie. Stephen Dillane and Sophie Marceau are a shining light in this and their character's love affair is so reminiscent of what it's like to meet your soul mate. Stephen's portrayal of Charles Godwin is just so memorizing and plays a man who realizes that he has met his love in a peculiar way. To know that a family can be brought together in such heart rendering circumstances is a lesson to be learned in life. Money doesn't matter. Nothing else matters but love , which is the ultimate life.

iton-67578 Having read the other reviews here, I understand why many enjoyed the film -- it runs something like a potboiler romance story that one might read on a beach on a lazy afternoon. It is enjoyable for the look, Sophie (hard to dislike), and the strong female lead role (though the other women are typical 19th century figures). But this would never be published as a novel (Romantic or otherwise) in the early 19th century -- too many morally questionable doings here for that. More on this in a second -- but let me begin by saying that if you lay aside all ideas about the reality of this story, you can enjoy it. If you begin to wonder at the plausibility of the plot, it quickly becomes nonsensical. That does not mean you cannot like it - - most films are nonsensical in terms of plot, and they still bring in loads of viewers and big bucks. Certainly, the limited settings made it easy for the writer to ignore the real 19th century here, in the main (despite some suggestions that it was a hard time to live for many people).Spoiler below:The parts that struck me as modern and unacceptable to 19th century publishers are: surrogate motherhood, indomitable feminine will that conquers all obstacles, adultery (more than once -- and not excused by the alleged initial purpose), acceptance of the live for the moment in pleasure theme, euthanasia, and getting away with all of this with no deep fear of the retribution that was commonly thought to await all such disturbers of conventional morality. We might attempt to justify that all of these were certainly possible in the early 19th century -- no argument there (and the Romantic and early feminist movements did encourage fantasy for women readers); but much of the action here never would have been seen in a 19th century novel without the required, related punishments for their accepted standards of immorality that here are notably missing. I point this out only so that the uninformed will not mistake this story as something that is truly a product of early 19th century thinking -- no, I would say it is modern in its messages.I will not speak about how this may have copied other stories, or further about how much of the real history of the 19th century is left out -- that does not really matter much. My main point here is that no one should believe this would have flown within its purported time period; the story, had it been written then, would likely have been burned. That said, it does speak to modern audiences (on several levels), does raise some interesting points for discussion (moral issues, feminism, the reality of the educational system featured, how all 19th century medical realities were ignored, and attending historical comparisons, and finally, whether upright and admirable behaviors can somehow excuse or make more forgivable several clearly morally unacceptable behaviors exhibited by the same characters), and the film is somewhat entertaining, or at least not too difficult to watch (I have watched it several times in fact, though always when someone else put our copy of it into the machine). Modernized film versions of stories like "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice" come to mind in terms of ignoring 19th century realities and acceptable behaviors, but still being very enjoyable for modern audiences. Maybe this helps truly interested people to study history more deeply, to see how we are so very different in many ways today (especially in England and the USA) than people who lived 200 years ago. To finish, I do not dislike this film -- though I would say it is not really a period piece in its themes, and it does have several plot points which are ludicrous (those are discussed in other reviews here; one is even rather funny -- the sister's request that Sophie love the gentleman for both of them). As a simple entertainment that can please on a quiet evening like a Harlequin romance, it is fine. I do not think I would have enjoyed it without Sophie Marceau, however (she solely keeps the film alive with her presence -- it would be nothing without her).

skinnyjoeymerlino Fantasy book author William Nicholson made his first and so far only effort at movie-direction with this 1997 English Gothic romance based on his own screenplay. Sophie Marceau (the French princess in Braveheart) plays a Swiss governess named Elizabeth in late 1830s England. Desperate to pay a family debt, she sells herself to an anonymous English gentlemen for three days in his efforts to produce an heir for his family. Harsh and uncaring at first, they fall in love, but both have agreed never to see or speak to each other again for the sake of keeping up appearances. Elizabeth conceives a baby girl who is wisked away seconds after birth. Heartbroken, Elizabeth writes letters to "My English Daughter" until she can no longer keep her promise. Seven years after the baby's birth she tracks the child down; now a spoiled brat living on a remote Sussex estate. The daughter acts up as she pines for her usually absent father. Her father's wife has been in a vegetative state for a decade after a riding accident, and even the the daughter knows she is not the real mother. Elizabeth takes a job as the girl's governess to be close to her, unbeknownst to the girl's father. When the father, Charles Godwin, returns from London he is appalled at the mother of his child showing up again in his life as well as the rekindling of a romantic fire he has desperately tried to convince himself is long burnt out. Themes of duty to family, maternal love, and desperate attempts to hold back passion are played out in perpetually foggy and snowswept landscapes and around fireplaces in the Godwin Victorian mansion.Performances by the actors are uniformly excellent. Marceau and Stephen Dillane as Charles Godwin share a chemistry rarely captured on film; but also look for Dominique Belcourt as the daughter; Lia Williams as Godwin's long-suffering sister-in-law; Kevin Anderson as the visiting American who falls for Elizabeth; and veteran British actor Joss Ackland as Godwin's father whose self-indulgent hedonism dooms the family to ruin. It's never apparent that this is Nicholson's first time out as a director. Nic Morris's cinematography of the English countryside and Marceu's exquisitely beautiful face lit by firelight is something to see, and Christopher Gunning's string-laden score is dramatic and over-the-top which it really should be.Although rife with gray and icy colors, painful family obligation, stark settings, heartbreak, euthanasia, held back emotions, and rigid social mores; the underlying theme of the Firelight is that true love conquers all. It's never really gotten the attention it deserves.Released by Disney's Hollywood pictures, the movie played briefly in American arthouses back in 1998 and was released on VHS the next year to very little fanfare. Disillusioned, Nicholson never directed a picture again, although he hit paydirt when he co-wrote the script to Ridley Scott's Gladiator in 2000. Firelight has been sporadically available since then on demand on the Encore movie cable channel. A Region 0 bare-bones DVD was released in Hong Kong of all places; it's available on Amazon.com and ebay. If you find a copy, it's definitely worth purchasing.

reesieg I read a review of Firelight that found the principals' relationship as "as cold as Siberia in January." I totally disagree. I found this film mesmerizing. You watch two people jettison the extreme reserve they've put up due to the hard knocks of life & be transported from doing business to lust to love. That is much more interesting than watching gratuitous sex between characters. Much of the evolution of this film takes place in your mind as you watch the subtle interactions between the actors. A look here, a look there - they signal titanic advances in the plot. You won't want to miss a scene.I did find Louisa grating, but I imagine that was the desired effect.