Oscar and Lucinda . Tucson Weekly . 03-30-98

Oscar and Lucinda

DIRECTED BY: Gillian Armstrong

REVIEWED: 03-30-98

I used to think movies like this were over my head, but now I realize they're just ineptly conceived and flatly directed. Unless you've read the Peter Carey novel, you'll have no idea what Oscar & Lucinda is supposed to mean or why you should care--picturesque cinematography and Oscar-nominated costumes notwithstanding. Made in Australia and set in the late 19th century, this loooong drama follows the lives of Ralph Fiennes, a timid, sickly religious student with a bad gambling habit; and Cate Blanchett, an eccentric heiress who's obsessed with glass and also gambles. They're too repressed or otherwise quirky to act on their love for each other, so Fiennes runs off to the jungle so he can deliver a glass church to a man Blanchett used to like. The whole experience is very PBS; Fiennes, with blowzy orange hair and a red-cheeked, womanly face, is even the spitting image of Lady Elaine Fairchild from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. At any moment I thought some twirpy volunteer might break in and ask for a pledge, and let me tell you, it would have been a welcome relief.

--Woodruff

Full Length Reviews
Oscar and Lucinda
Oscar and Lucinda
Oscar and Lucinda
Oscar and Lucinda

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Oscar and Lucinda
Oscar and Lucinda

Other Films by Gillian Armstrong
Little Women

Film Vault Suggested Links
Gone With the Wind
Fifty Four
Little Women

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