Clarissa
by Robert Bierman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cathryn Harrison, Frances Viner, Hermione Norris, Lynsey Baxter, Saskia WickhamDirector: Robert Bierman
Brand: Acorn
Cinematographer: John McGlashan
Editor: Bill Wright
Producer: Kevin Loader
Producer: Michael Wearing
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 156 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-09
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
Movie Reviews of Clarissa
Movie Review: A Suprisingly Modern Tale--Worth my Time and Money
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this movie because I am a Sean Bean fan, and I could see by the synopsis that this type of story would best showcase his acting ability. In that respect I was not disappointed. In fact, Sean Bean's performance greatly increased my respect for him as an actor. Having no prior knowledge of Samuel Richardson or the book upon which this movie was based, I had actually thought it would be a romance somewhat along the lines another 18th century novel, Pamela.
Being a modern woman and a romantic, I watched the movie in anticipation of the moment when Richard Lovelace would begin his reformation. I was disappointed that his character never improved. In fact, he got noticeably worse as his frustration increased. By the midpoint of the production, I had at last thrown off my rose-colored glasses and accepted the fact that I was watching a different kind of story than the Jane Austen, Catherine Cookson ones I have lately enjoyed.
This is a story about good versus evil. Clarissa and Lovelace both experience it internally as well as externally. Clarissa is the character dedicated to doing the right and honorable thing and being true to herself, yet she flirts with evil and it gets her into trouble. Lovelace is the wicked rake with designs on Clarissa's virtue, yet through his tender feelings for Clarissa, he is tempted to give up his wickedness and be won over to her goodness. There is a part of Lovelace that would like to be reformed by Clarissa while at the same time Clarissa is tempted to believe she can reform Lovelace and then give herself to him.
The attraction between Clarissa and Lovelace is evident from the moment they meet. Clarissa's determination to preserve her virtue and Lovelace's steadfast resistance to Clarissa's goodness creates an electrifying sexual tension. Here is where the genius of the casting comes into play. Lovelace's continual deceptions and schemes would have gotten very boring if not for Sean Bean's ability to showcase Lovelace's internal conflict. Lovelace is obviously smitten with Clarissa, yet he is just as uncompromisingly wicked as she is uncompromisingly good. At the same time, Lovelace is tender enough to make me believe that his cold heart will thaw and that he will begin to do things that make him worthy of Clarissa's love. Saskia Wickham had the most difficult job of all in making her character sympathetic and believable. It would have been so easy to make Clarissa too good and noble, yet this actress was able to show the subtle weaknesses in Clarissa. She showed Clarissa's attraction to Lovelace and the desperation that drove her to accept Lovelace's help when her family tried to keep her a virtual prisoner in her home. If Clarissa had not been drawn to Lovelace, I do not think she ever would have done it, and she would have been forced to find a safer, better way to be delivered from a vile marriage. Clarissa seemed a bit naïve in the beginning, and some might have thought her stupid to be so easily manipulated by Lovelace. Yet, Lovelace was a master manipulator. He manipulated everyone he met, even his enemies. It seems somewhat unrealistic until one bears in mind how many famous mass murders and criminals were expert manipulators. Clarissa is a strong character and Siskia Wickham's rendering successfully shows it. When Clarissa finds out about Lovelace's lies, she never trusts him again. She also gives him the opportunity to fess up, yet he never does. What is truly amazing about Lovelace is his ability to look her in the face and tell blatant lies in such a way to make them believable. Again, I do not think just any actor could have pulled that off.
Despite the age of this tale, I found it actually very modern. There are some human conditions that never change regardless of the culture and the technology. One of these conditions is human pride and arrogance which in the end were the cause of Lovelace's destruction. Lovelace would never concede defeat to a woman whose will was as strong, if not stronger than his. That pride led to the ruination of Clarissa's life and to the ruination of any chance that Lovelace might have had to win Clarissa's heart. She admitted later that she could have loved him. Had Lovelace relented just enough to be truthful and vulnerable to Clarissa, or had he been able to let her go, he might have found a measure of the happiness he sought. One can read the news reports, and see stories everyday of stalkers and abusers who mistreat the women they supposedly love, but whose ego will never allow them to release these women. All too often this situation results in the death of the love interest. In the end, it is not a story of love, but of power and manipulation.
Another reviewer lamented that Clarissa was not like one of Jane Austen's characters. First of all Jane Austen's books always resulted in happy endings. Life often does not end that way. In most cases, keeping virtue in an evil society often demands sacrifice and is rarely rewarded in the material sense. In a material sense, Lovelace destroyed Clarissa. He imprisoned her in a bordello and did everything he could to cut her off from anyone who could have helped her. Some viewers might belittle Clarissa for having allowed this situation to happen, but one must bear in mind that this story happened in the 18th century and aristocrats did have the power to do these evil things to people on a lower social rung. As long as Clarissa's family was unwilling to help her or take her back, Clarissa had few options. It was a cruel world in which life was cheap and women had few protections. Clarissa lost the will to live because her own family and Lovelace had betrayed her. She sought solace in her faith and in her desire to be with Jesus who offered her the comfort and love she sought. Perhaps some modernists might see that as weak, but had Clarissa accepted the money offered her and escaped her prison, she would have been at the mercy of someone else, just as she had been at the mercy of her family and of Lovelace. Clarissa's only option for independence was the prison. There she was safe. There and only there could she experience life on her own terms.
Modern day viewers can watch this drama and be thankful they live in more enlightened times, but then again we would all do well to remember that we too can be destroyed by those more powerful and well-connected than ourselves. Someone can sue us. The IRS can audit and harass us. Someone can assault us, injure us, and do us all sorts of harm. These things happen to innocent people everyday. None of us is exempt if someone else is determined to take our freedom from us. We can fight back and maybe prevail, but victory is never certain. The only thing we have the ability to affect is our own reaction to adversity. We have the option to become better people and to live out our faith and ideals as Clarissa did or we can become bitter and angry and allow our souls to be swept away by the tide of events.
Clarissa was victorious in the fact that her death was not in vain. By her suffering and death, she managed to redeem Lovelace's friend Peter and her mother and father as well.
All in all, Clarissa was a satisfying drama and worth my time to watch. Though I have no desire to see it again anytime soon, I would highly recommend it.
Summary of Clarissa
Based on the towering 18th-century novel by Samuel Richardson--the original tale of fatal attraction and the model for all literary dangerous liaisons to come--this acclaimed BBC production features an impressive line-up of stars, including Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Troy, Lady Chatterley), Saskia Wickham (Angels & Insects, Peak Practice), Hermione Norris (Cold Feet), and Sean Pertwee (Cadfael, Dog Soldiers).Sean Bean plays Lovelace, a handsome rake determined to seduce--and thus destroy--the beautiful young virgin Clarissa Harlowe (Saskia Wickham), a wealthy heiress famed for her virtue. As Clarissa is forced by her scheming family into the predatory Lovelace?s arms, it seems certain that he will succeed. But Lovelace has failed to reckon with both Clarissa?s strength of character and his one fatal weakness: his own heart. For the first time in his life, he becomes genuinely infatuated with his prey--a failing that drives him to new heights of decadence and sows the seeds of his own destruction.
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