I approach period pieces with trepidation at best, terror at worst. Much to my surprise ‘Angels and Insects’ turns out to be a remarkable film. The plot is established early on, and moves in wonderfully understated and subtle ways, staving off boredom at every turn.
William Adamson (Mark Rylance) plays a commoner, a scientist, just returned from an expedition from the Amazon where he was studying the indigenous wildlife. During his return voyage, he survives a shipwreck but his specimens and research do not. His patron (sponsor?) is sympathetic to the protagonist, and sympathetic to the sciences, so employs him to live at the estate in exchange for tutoring the family’s youngest daughters. The drama unfolds through William’s relationships with the patron’s older children: one son, three daughters.
As requisite of any Victorian story, the costumes are breathtaking. Particularly visually amusing are the often-matching outfits of William’s students.
The acting is brilliant, as one would expect from a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Mark Rylance and Oscar/SAG Award Nominee, Kristen Scott Thomas. Douglas Henshall as Edgar Alabaster, the elder son in the household, is a real surprise. But excellent acting aside, what gives these talents the room for such rich statement lies in the script by Phillip and Belinda Haas. Having not read the book on which it was based (Morpho Eugenia), I have no idea how much of the dialog has been transplanted and how much written anew. Regardless of where the credit belongs, there is a phenomenal depth in the lines of the dialog. These capture the repression and secrecy both of the era in general and the Alabaster house in particular exquisitely. There are times when the literary satisfaction is similar to that of reading a well-constructed novel. Very impressive for a movie.
In all, ‘Angels and Insects’ is a rich romantic drama whose dialog buoys the plot through the treacherous Victorian Age. I’m still looking for the ‘Angels’ though.