I found the movie Mary Reilly at the store last night, so I bought it. I've seen it about 20 times, and I like it more every time I see it.
If you've never heard of it, it's because it had awful promotion (read: no promotion), and it didn't do well at the box office, probably due to the fact that period dramas are hopelessly out of style.
Essentially, the movie is Robert Louis Stevenson's tale, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde turned on its' head. The story is told from the point of view of the title character, Dr. Jekyll's housemaid, Mary Reilly, played by Julia Roberts. Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde are terrifyingly portrayed by John Malkovich. His transformation between the two characters is stunning. He actually looks like a different man, but only his clothes and hair color have changed. And although Julia Roberts' accent leaves much to be desired (that unmistakable twang somehow works its' way through), her portrayal of the character is actually rather brilliant. She perfectly shows us a woman who is at once surrounded by fear, but also touchingly courageous.
This movie makes a careful examination of the rigid Victorian mores that inspired Stevenson's classic, and of the lengths the human heart will go to escape them.
If you've never heard of it, it's because it had awful promotion (read: no promotion), and it didn't do well at the box office, probably due to the fact that period dramas are hopelessly out of style.
Essentially, the movie is Robert Louis Stevenson's tale, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde turned on its' head. The story is told from the point of view of the title character, Dr. Jekyll's housemaid, Mary Reilly, played by Julia Roberts. Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde are terrifyingly portrayed by John Malkovich. His transformation between the two characters is stunning. He actually looks like a different man, but only his clothes and hair color have changed. And although Julia Roberts' accent leaves much to be desired (that unmistakable twang somehow works its' way through), her portrayal of the character is actually rather brilliant. She perfectly shows us a woman who is at once surrounded by fear, but also touchingly courageous.
This movie makes a careful examination of the rigid Victorian mores that inspired Stevenson's classic, and of the lengths the human heart will go to escape them.