Rowing With the Wind
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Movie Reviews of Rowing With the Wind
Movie Review: A view into the minds of famous writers
Summary: 5 Stars
Rowing With the Wind is a superb blending of reality with the mind's fantasy. It's eerie opening scene in the frozen arctic with the quiet, somber voice of Hugh Grant quoting a poem by Byron sets the audience's expectations for something darkly haunting, out of this world... This trick of the imagination becomes mingled with reality and purpose in first the mind of Mary Shelley as she creates her Frankenstein monster and, later, in the mind of her husband Shelley. The settings in Geneva and Venice are fantastic, the acting of all players is truly excellent, beautiful period costuming, wonderful music to fit the script.
. The whole plot s built on this developing fantasy of Mary Shelley and the happenings which she believes are a result of the darkness within herself. Yet, the character that stands out central and above all is Lord Byron, played by Hugh Grant. He does a marvelous job of acting and bring life and personality to the poet. Hugh is Lord Bryon, the self-centered poet who grows more humane during the story.
The movie would be more enjoyable if the quick nude scenes had been omitted. Otherwise, it is a very enjoyable film well worth watching repeatedly as you can get more out of it with each viewing.
Movie Review: Helps to know something about Romantic poetry
Summary: 5 Stars
For the student of Romantic poetry, Rowing with the Wind provides an excellent insight into the lives of Mary Wollestonecraft, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. Those unintested in those lives best avoid it. A European movie, it's probably too subtle and sophisticated for a lot of American tastes.Movie Review: Much than what this movie is known for.
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is based on actual historical events revolving around four individuals in the early 1800's, in several European locations. Three of the four main characters are famous British writers or poets. The main character in the movie is Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Mary Shelley had a life plagued with the loss of loved ones. The movie follows a portion of her life and highlights the loss of those that are close to her. The deaths she is surrounded by are brought to light through dialogue in the film. At one point Lord Byron, who is played by Hugh Grant challenges everyone to write a story, which is also based on an actual event. At this time Mary Shelley writes her famous work Frankenstein. As she is losing her loved ones throughout the movie her guilt and loss is manifested into the monster she has created. She blames herself for the loss of those around her which is also manifested into the monster she has created. We see the monster throughout the movie, but it is very easy to miss why the monster is there. The monster never interferes causing the deaths, though in one instance it looks like the monster causes a death mimicking a part of her Frankenstein novel. All the characters in the movie actually died in the manner portrayed in the film. If you have a historical knowledge of the main characters there should be nothing in this movie that catches you by suprise. The number of actual characters in this movie are limited and mainly focus on the four main characters and their ecentricities. The cinemetagraphy in this film is excellent. The movie was made to appeal to the visual senses. The film takes place with scenic and colorful backgrounds in Geneva and Venice. The costumes worn by the actors are rich and lavish and add to the scenic backgrounds. The dialogue in this movie is sharp and witty. All the actors in the movie would fall under the category of "eye candy". Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley are younger in this movie which appears to have been filmed before they established any fame in the US. If you did not know that Elizabeth Hurley had a role in this movie it might take you a while to recognize her. This is a European movie filmed in English. The film was well shot and is not a B movie, however I did not give it five stars due to the transfer of this film over to DVD. There are flaws that should have been touched up in the transfer process onto DVD. These flaws are not easily noticeable throughout the majority of the film where the back grounds are darker colors. However it is very noticeable in the opening sequence which takes place aboard a ship in the artic. The flaws stand out against the white background. With the time and effort that was put into making and filming this movie one would think that it would get the proper attention when put onto DVD. This movie is much better than what it has garnered attention for. This movie has seemed to catch attention due to Elizabeth Hurleys later fame and the fact that her breasts are exposed for a few seconds in this film. This European film uses the characters as part of the scenery and exposes three of the four main characters throughout the film, which has both male and female nudity. This movie is not fast paced and has no action. The movie depends on its dialogue which is delivered very well by all of the main characters. Bottom line here is that this is not a horror film with action scenes. It is well worth the time spent to view it.Movie Review: Great talents joined together in creativity and tragedy
Summary: 4 Stars
It is hard to classify this film, for in many ways it is a horror film and in other ways it is a study of a highly original group of people who lived on the edge of society and were both creative and years ahead of their times in terms of their sensibilities. The films interior scenes are often ghostly and the nighttime exterior scenes are filmed in an idealized surreal landscape. The film covers a brief period in the careers of Percy Shelley, his wife Mary, his sister-in-law Claire Clairmont, and the international superstar bad-boy poet, Lord Byron. The two men, Byron and Shelley, were both friends and competitors, for both were considered by different factions to be the greatest living British poets. Hugh Grant plays bad-boy Lord Byron, a strikingly handsome and amoral man who doesn't really have to chase women because they are always chasing him. Percy Shelley is played by Valentine Pelka. Percy is a highly sympathetic character in the film and in life. He feels competitive with Byron and also in awe of this great talent. He leaves his wife and children to run away with 17 year old Mary Godwin, the child of radical social reformer William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Percy and Mary Shelley and Claire Clairmont visit Byron in Switzerland. Here he is attended by his physician played by Jose Luis Gomez and his faithful valet Fletcher, played comically by Ronan Vibert. During this visit Byron challenges them all to write ghost stories. The 20 year old Mary Godwin Shelley pens the famous novel Frankenstein due to this challenge. Lizzy McInnerny plays Mary Shelley perfectly in this film and despite the bravado and beauty of the two lead males; it is Mary that gradually begins to become the center of gravity for the entire movie. Mary's sister Claire Claremont is a pitiful case. Elizabeth Hurley plays her as an impulsive, sexually uninhibited woman of poor judgment. Hurley chases Byron until she catches him, becomes pregnant, and then is amazed that he wants nothing more to do with her. However after the birth of a daughter, Byron gradually gets control of their daughter and has her reared in an Italian monastery by nuns. It is half way through the film that it begins to diverge from the biographic record and the character of Frankenstein begins to haunt Mary, as if the novel had created this monster in reality. Then many tragic deaths begin to occur around Mary and her family and friends. I am not sure of the point in turning this biographical film of the 19th century's avante garde into a horror story but this is where the director takes us. The group joins with ex-patriots Edward Williams and his wife. Jolyon Baker plays Williams and is tied to the tragedy that results in both Williams' and Shelley's deaths. The lush music of Vaughn Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is integrated into the film. The film will probably stimulate many viewers to read more about Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the entire collection of amazing characters that are brought together in history in one time and one place where their genius can develop.Movie Review: I actually enjoyed it.
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this DVD out of sheer curiosity. The write-up on its cover shamelessly and ridiculously exploits the "Sexy Hugh Grant and seductive Elizabeth Hurley" thing, attempting to ride the coattails of their later fame more than fifteen years after it was filmed. It cheapens the movie, in my opinion, and was half the reason I popped it into the DVD player not really expecting much. I was truly surprised, though, to find myself enjoying the humor and, most of all, intrigued and even moved by the story. Don't get me wrong; it's definitely not factually accurate, and it is a perfect example of what Hugh Grant hilariously refers to as "Euro-pudding." However, it has its certain charms. Actually, I have found myself rewatching it on a few occasions because, as someone with some basic familiarity with literature of that era, the story stuck with me much more than I would have expected. I had to read up on Byron and the Shelleys, and then I rewatched it so it would make a little more sense to me, and what I really came to appreciate had less to do with factual depiction of events (and seriously, it's a movie about a fictional monster wreaking havoc on the life of its creator, so I wasn't expecting fact) but more to do with a very personal look at some larger-than-life characters. As someone below mentioned, Hugh Grant gives Byron an unexpected humanity, and Mary Shelley's sadness seeps through the self-appointed drama of the film to touch any viewer who has the slightest sympathy for the very tragic life she lived. It is an interesting concept to use her greatest achievement, Frankenstein, as a symbol of the misery she endured. She believes in the movie that she has brought life to imagination and ruined the lives of everyone she loves, but the omniscient viewer is haunted more by the idea that the horrors of her imagination were driven by the very real tragedies of her life.
My perspective on Rowing With the Wind boils down to that, a sympathy for these incredibly talented and incredibly sad people, and an appreciation for a film that in some way succeeds in humanizing their experience at the most tumultuous time of their lives. It is crazy - and probably intentionally so, as you are inside the reflections of a woman who was no stranger to psychological suffering. My advice is to take it with a grain of salt and maybe you will also be pleasantly surprised.
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