In 1838, lovely governess Elisabeth agrees to bear a child of anonymous English landowner, and he will in return pay her father's debt. At birth she, as agreed, gives up the child. Seven years later she is hired as governess to a girl on a remote Sussex estate. The father of the girl, Charles Godwin, turns out to be that anonymous landowner. So Elisabeth has to be her own daughter's governess, and she can't reveal the secret of her tie with little Louisa.
Acting
Marceau's controlled devastation, Dillane's brittle restraint
Cinematography
Firelight literally lighting forbidden desire
Director
William Nicholson
Sophie Marceau
Elisabeth Laurier
Stephen Dillane
Charles Godwin
Dominique Belcourt
Louisa Godwin
Kevin Anderson
John Taylor
Joss Ackland
Lord Clare
Lia Williams
Constance
Sally Dexter
Molly Holland
Emma Amos
Ellen
Maggie McCarthy
Mrs. Jago
Wolf Kahler
Sussman
John Flanagan
Robert Ames
Valerie Minifie
Hannah
Diana Payan
Mrs. Maidment
John Hodgkinson
Carlo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director William Nicholson also wrote Gladiator and Elizabeth: The Golden Age—this was his only directorial feature.
The 'firelight' metaphor isn't subtle: 19th-century women literally couldn't see clearly by it, just as Elisabeth's position obscures her truth. The film asks who gets to claim visibility.
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