Florence Hoath Movies

In the summer of 1937, wealthy timber importer William Cazalet (Frederick Treves) and his wife, Kitty (Ursula Howells), host their children -- Hugh, Edward, Rupert, and Rachel -- and grandchildren for an extended holiday at William's idyllic Sussex estate. At dinner, William invites Rupert (Paul Rhys), a struggling artist, to join his other two sons, Hugh and Edward, in his thriving firm. Idealistic Rupert declines the offer. While attempting to justify his decision to his self-centered wife, Zoe (Joanna Page), whom he married after his first wife died, Rupert also must cope with his adolescent daughter's resentment of her stepmother. Meanwhile, rumors of war with Germany unsettle the family, and they monitor radio broadcasts closely. Hugh (Hugh Bonneville) knows well the perils of soldiery. In the Great War, he lost the use of his left hand and suffered a head injury that causes recurring headaches. His wife, Sybil (Anastasia Hille), worries about him, and he in turn worries about her, especially when her health mysteriously declines. Edward (Stephen Dillane), on the other hand, worries only about getting caught cheating on his wife, Villy (Lesley Manville), who is pregnant. His lustful behavior becomes truly detestable when he gropes his own daughter. His sister, spinster Rachel (Catherine Russell), is his opposite: reserved, always thinking of others. But a secret longing distresses her, and she vies with it in silence. Meanwhile, Villy, Zoe, and Edward's mistress all become pregnant; Sybil develops cancer; Rupert enlists when the Nazis go on the march; and a nephew comes to the Cazalet estate to escape his autocratic father. The war, familial conflict, and Sybil's illness test the family as never before. The final two hours of the six-hour saga reveal whether the Cazalets have the mettle to choose selflessness over self. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

London TV commercials director Sandra Goldbacher made her feature directorial debut with this early Victorian England drama filmed on the Isle of Arran. In London, Rosina Da Silva (Minnie Driver) is shaken by the murder of her father, a wealthy Jewish merchant. To deal with family debts, Rosina places a classified ad in a local newspaper and gets a job as a nanny with a gentile family in Scotland. Adopting the name Mary Blackchurch and posing as a gentile, she joins the dysfunctional Cavendish family, caring for young Clementina (Florence Hoath) and fending off the advances of teen Henry (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Head of the household is philologist and inventor Charles Cavendish (Tom Wilkinson), and when she gives Charles an assist on his photographic experiments, an affair develops. The music score features Eastern percussion backing singer Ofra Haza. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Previously and brilliantly filmed by director Jack Clayton as The Innocents in 1961, Henry James' classic psychological-horror novel The Turn of the Screw was remade 34 years later in the form of this TV movie, which changes the original locale and several character names. American governess Helen Walker (Valerie Bertinelli) arrives at an ornate English country estate, there to take charge of two orphaned siblings, Flora (Florence Hoath) and Mile (Aled Roberts). That the children are rude and ill-mannered does not unduly rattle Helen, who expects this sort of behavior in children of privilege. What is disturbing is that the youngsters' game-playing often takes on an unsavory sexual subtext far beyond their tender years. This, and a few strange "sightings", leads Helen to the startling conclusion that the children are under the power of the ghosts of their former caregivers--a sadistic handyman and an evil governess who died despising one another, and intend to "resolve" their kinky carnal issues using the youngsters as their pawns! Though handled with surprising subtlety and austerity, The Haunting of Helen Walker somehow falls short of the eerie brilliance of the 1961 The Innocents, and without being unduly cruel, it can be said that Valerie Bertinelli is no Deborah Kerr. Filmed on location near Readling, England, the TV movie premiered December 3, 1995 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi