Jeanne Watts Movies
British actress Jeanne Watts has spent the bulk of her career playing leads and character roles on-stage. She specializes in classical plays and frequently works with the National Theatre Company. Watts has also occasionally appeared in feature films. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh, Handful of Dust is set amongst Britain's aristocracy of the 1930s. At sumptuous Hetton Abbey, tradition-bound country squire James Wilby and his wife Kristin Scott Thomas open their doors to well-connected but impoverished Rupert Graves. Graves returns Wilby's hospitality by having an affair with Scott Thomas, while Wilby gamboles about his estate without a clue of what is going on. Wilby's cloistered world comes tumbling down when Scott Thomas coolly demands a divorce, shortly after the accidental death of their young son. Wilby discovers that his divorce settlement will cost him Hetton Abbey; he faces this circumstance by not facing it at all, preferring to escape to South America, stiff upper lip intact, in the company of a dotty explorer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
Based on the acclaimed novel by Doris Lessing, this dystopian science fiction tale concerns a woman struggling to make her way in a post-apocalyptic society. D (Julie Christie) is living in a city that's at the point of collapse following a catastrophic nuclear war; lawlessness and violence rule the day, and gangs of brutal youth roam the streets. With the help of her teenage companion Emily (Leonie Mellinger), D tries to make her way, and in order to cope, she often escapes into a fantasy world in which she lives in genteel Victorian surroundings in the 19th century. Memoirs of a Survivor received the International Fantasy Film Award and the Audience Jury Award at Portugal's 1982 Fantasporto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, Christopher Guard, (more)
Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's three upper-class Prozorov sisters -- Masha, Olga, and Irina -- come no closer to their dream of returning to Moscow in director Laurence Olivier's 1970 film version of Three Sisters than they did in Chekhov's original 1900 play. This melancholy classic about shattered dreams, self-delusion, and compromise was directed by Olivier for Britain's National Theatre in 1967. The film, a literal record of Olivier's stage version, was produced in order to raise money for the ever-imperiled National. Olivier, who'd just recovered from a serious illness, plays the mischievous army doctor Chebutikin, while Olivier's wife, Joan Plowright, essays the major role of Masha, the snobbish general's daughter who tries to escape the stultifying banality of her provincial marriage by having an affair. Three Sisters was released in the U.S. in 1974 as part of the American Film Theatre series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeanne Watts, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 1968
This Swedish melodrama is set upon a small fortresslike island. Upon the island lives a bitter artillery captain, his wife and his family. The officer is angry at never receiving the promotion he felt was his due. He constantly argues with his wife. Complicating matters is the captain's illness, which he has kept secret. His wife cousin, a quarantine officer, comes to the isle with his son. The captain immediately begins trying to destroy him socially, professionally, and financially. More trouble ensues when the cousin's son and the captains daughter fall in love. The two perceptive youths observe the twisted relationship between the fathers. As the daughter finally chastises the father for his behavior, the captain has a stroke, writhes about upon the floor with foam dripping from his mouth, and dies. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
