Angels & Insects
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| Angels & Insects | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Philip Haas |
| Produced by | Playhouse International Pictures, Samuel Goldwyn Company |
| Written by | A. S. Byatt (novel) Philip Haas, Belinda Haas (screenplay) |
| Starring | Mark Rylance Patsy Kensit Kristin Scott Thomas |
| Music by | Alexander Balanescu |
| Cinematography | Bernard Zitzerman |
| Release date(s) | November 5, 1995 |
| Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Angels & Insects is a 1995 romance and drama film directed by Philip Haas. It was written by Philip and Belinda Haas with A. S. Byatt after her novella Morpho Eugenia.
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[edit] Plot summary
William Adamson (Mark Rylance), a poor naturalist, returns home to Victorian England after having spent years along the Amazon River studying all kinds of animals, mainly insects. William is penniless, having lost all his possessions during shipwreck. Nevertheless he manages to befriend Sir Harald Alabaster (Jeremy Kemp), an amateur insect collector and botanist. Sir Harald hires William to teach his younger children about insects, assisting their nanny, Matty (Kristen Scott Thomas). He strikes up a flirtation with Sir Harald's daughter, Eugenia (Patsy Kensit), who is still mourning the suicide of her fiance. The two quickly fall in love and decide to marry. Sir Harald and his wife Lady Alabaster eagerly grant their approval of the match. However, Eugenia's older brother Edgar (Douglas Henshall) takes an intense dislike to William, never passing up the opportunity to pick fights with him or to remind him of his humble background.
After the marriage, the fecund Eugenia produces five children in quick succession--children that William never warms to. William, along with Matty, publishes a book about insects. The book is quickly accepted by a publisher and goes on to become a bestseller.
One day, during a hunting excursion, William is summoned back to the house by a servant boy who claims that Eugenia wishes to speak to him. He walks into the bedroom, surprising Eugenia and Edgar while they are engaging in incestuous sex. Eugenia then confesses that she and Edgar had been having sex with each other for years and that her fiance committed suicide after discovering this. Eugenia also tells William that even though she knew it was wrong for her to have sex with her brother, it didn't quench her desire to do it.
William then tells Eugenia that he is leaving her and the children, children that he is now convinced were fathered by Edgar. However, he does promise not to tell Sir Harald the real reason behind his departure reasoning that the truth would injure the old man's health.
William then confides in Matty, whom he has become quite close to during the years. Although she denies having sent the servant after William, she does admit that she knew of the incestuous relationship that Eugenia had with Edgar and that the other servants knew as well. William then tells Matty of his plan to go back to the Amazon and not return. Matty begs to go with him confessing that she is in love with him. William is initially reluctant; despite his attraction to Matty, he doesn't feel that the rain forest is a suitable place for a woman to live. After promising to help him in his work, William acquiesces. The movie ends with William and Matty departing in a coach while the saddened Sir Harald looks on.
[edit] Nominations
- Academy Award (1997) for best Costume Design (Paul Brown)
- Cannes Film Festival (1995) for the Golden Palm for Best Director (Philip Haas)
- Chlotrudis Award (1997) for Best Supporting Actress (Kristin Scott Thomas).
- For her role as Matty Crompton Kristin Scott Thomas won the Evening Standard British Film Award as Best Actress in 1996.
[edit] Controversy
- The film caused some scandal in America because of a scene in which an actor (Douglas Henshall) leaves the bed of a woman and gets dressed while his penis is erect, something almost non-existent in mainstream American film.
