Jennifer Ehle Movies
An actress who infuses her characters with luminous strength and shrewd intelligence, Jennifer Ehle emerged in the mid-'90s as one of England's most compelling new talents. A trained stage actress, she won international recognition and a BAFTA TV Award in 1996, when she starred as Elizabeth Bennet in the acclaimed BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Her career breakthrough led to both more screen work and the opportunity for Ehle, the daughter of actress Rosemary Harris, to establish herself as an actress in her own right. Born December 29, 1969, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the home of her novelist father John Ehle, Ehle was raised largely in nearby Asheville. She spent a great deal of her childhood following her mother's career engagements back and forth between the States and the U.K., attending over 18 schools in the process. Ehle eventually settled in London to study drama at the Central School, but dropped out in 1991 to take the part of Calypso in Peter Hall's lauded TV adaptation of The Chamomile Lawn. Further television and stage roles followed, and in 1993, Ehle made her screen debut with a small role in Iain Softley's Backbeat as Cynthia Powell, John Lennon's first wife. Ehle's career entered a new and more lucrative phase with her award-winning turn as Pride and Prejudice's heroine; in addition to its success in Britain, the miniseries -- which also launched Colin Firth to international fame in his role as Mr. Darcy -- proved to be a runaway hit in the States. More film work duly came Ehle's way: she could be seen playing Oscar Wilde's wife, Constance, in Wilde (1997); a prisoner of war alongside Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Cate Blanchett, and Julianna Margulies in Paradise Road (1997); and a woman who finds herself becoming involved with her supposedly gay former boyfriend in Bedrooms & Hallways (1998). Ehle was cast in perhaps her most high-profile screen role to date in 1999, when she starred as the wife of a Hungarian lawyer (Ralph Fiennes) in István Szabó's epic Sunshine, a historical drama tracing the fortunes of three generations of a Hungarian Jewish family. However, the actress' involvement in the film, which also starred real-life mother Harris as the older version of her character, was overshadowed in theatrical circles by her work on the stage that same year. For her performance as Annie, the wife of a brilliant but emotionally evasive playwright (Stephen Dillane) in the Broadway production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, Ehle found herself up against her mother, who starred in Waiting in the Wings, for a 2000 Best Actress Tony Award. Ehle ultimately won the award, the latest honor in what looked to be, like her mother's, a very long and vibrant career. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide- 2009
- R
Tragedy opens the wounds a family has long struggled to ignore in this powerful emotional drama. Bennett Brewster (Aaron Johnson) was a bright, handsome and talented young man who was suddenly killed in an auto accident late one night while driving home with Rose (Carey Mulligan), a girl who has been a close friend for years but had only recently become romantically involved with him. Bennett's death devastates his family; his mother Grace (Susan Sarandon) is overcome with grief and can't stop wondering what his final minutes must have been like, father Allan (Pierce Brosnan) is forced to turn away from his mistress (Jennifer Ehle) and try to comfort a woman he no longer certain he loves, and brother Ryan (Johnny Simmons) mourns Bennett while becoming painfully aware that he will never live up to his late brother's example in the eyes of his parents. As grief slowly brings the family's emotional troubles to the surface, two unwelcome characters come into the picture -- Rose, who has discovered she's pregnant with Bennett's child, and the truck driver (Michael Shannon) who unwittingly took Bennett's life. The first feature film from writer and director Shana Feste, The Greatest received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, (more)
Director Gavin O'Connor collaborates with Narc director/screenwriter Joe Carnahan on this family-focused police drama concerning an honest homicide detective (Edward Norton) assigned to investigate the precinct run by his potentially crooked older brother (Noah Emmerich). As the investigation begins to reveal some troubling facts about the precinct, it gradually becomes apparent that the policeman who is also the older brother's best friend (Colin Farrell) may be the man orchestrating many of the suspected crimes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, (more)
An Englishman intent on opening a spice plantation in Kerala attempts to gain the trust of the local villagers and destroys numerous lives in the process in this period drama from director/cinematographer Santosh Sivan. The year is 1937, and the power that the English wield over the citizens of India can be devastating even in the mildest of cases. Henry Moores (Linus Roache) is an entrepreneur and businessman who has singled out Kerala as the site where he plans to break ground on a potentially lucrative spice plantation. When Henry discovers that he will have to build a new road in order to make his plans feasible, he enlists the aid of trusted right-hand man T.K. (Rahul Bose) is warming the locals to the idea. The project is going to take plenty of manpower, and Henry is going to need all the help he can get. But while Henry relies on T.K. to help him realize his professional goals, his personal needs fall on the shoulders of his pretty housekeeper, Sajani (Nandita Das). One day, when their trip into the forest to collect honey takes a decidedly sensual turn, two local village boys witness the erotically charged tryst and word eventually gets back to Sanani's husband in the village. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linus Roache, Rahul Bose, (more)
The feature debut from writer/director Dan Wilde this British drama centers on a family split apart in the wake of its patriarch's death. Jennifer Ehle stars as widowed Alice, who eventually moves on and remarries, a move that has a devastating effect on her son Jack, played by Mark Wells. Years later, the family reunites and long-supressed feelings are finally revealed. Alpha Male also stars Danny Huston. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Ehle, Danny Huston, (more)
The body of a prep school student has been discovered in a nearby river, and though the death was originally listed as a suicide one detective believes that it may have actually been the result of a fraternity hazing gone awry in director Nick Willing's snowbound mystery. Detective Abel Grey (Edward Burns) isn't willing to write off the case as a suicide just yet, and with a little help from sympathetic teacher Betsy Chase (Jennifer Ehle) he hopes to uncover the truth behind the mysterious and untimely death. As a series of elusive clues lead Detective Grey ever closer to the truth, he is forced to confront not only the increasingly complex facts in the case of the student death, but his own repressed emotions related to the suicide of his older brother years earlier as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Burns, Jennifer Ehle, (more)
In Neil LaBute's film adaptation of A.S. Byatt's Booker Prize-winning 1990 novel, Aaron Eckhart (who has starred in all of LaBute's films) plays Roland Michell, an American academic researcher, working in London, who discovers some important letters written by a famous Victorian poet, Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam [Gosford Park]). Ash was presumed to have been totally devoted to his wife, but Roland finds letters written to another unnamed woman, and soon determines that the intended recipient was another, less well-known poet, Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle of Sunshine). Roland contacts Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), an expert on LaMotte's life and work, who tells him that LaMotte couldn't have had an affair with Ash because she lived most of her life with a female companion, Blanche Glover (Lena Headey), in what was apparently a romantic relationship. Despite Maud's skepticism, the two begin to investigate, and uncover a wealth of information about the affair between the two poets. Period scenes of the illicit relationship between Ash and LaMotte are intercut with the contemporary investigation of the two academics. Roland and Maud initially fight their attraction to each other, but as the pair find more evidence of the historical and tragic romance, they find themselves overcoming their own resistance to romantic entanglement. Possession was kicked around as a film project for a long time before LaBute became interested. Director Sydney Pollack originally was slated to film a screenplay by David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), who receives a credit on the finished film. When LaBute took over the project years later, he reworked the screenplay with Laura Jones (The Portrait of a Lady). ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, (more)
- 1999
The big-screen debut from Scottish stage director David Kane, This Year's Love is a comedy about the romantic misadventures of six young people in Camden, North London. The marriage of tattoo artist Danny (Douglas Hanshall) and dressmaker Hannah (Catherine McCormack) gets off to a less-than-inspiring start when Danny finds out Hannah has already been fooling around with a friend's husband, so Danny takes a walk and Hannah splits with a friend to get drunk. At the airport, where the newlyweds were supposed to leave for a honeymoon, Danny meets a cleaning woman named Mary (Kathy Burke) and is immediately infatuated, while Hannah is picked up by a scruffy artist named Cameron (Dougray Scott). Elsewhere, Liam (Ian Hart), a geeky comic-art enthusiast who shares an apartment with Cameron, finds romance with Sophie (Jennifer Ehle), a single mother and full-time neurotic. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathy Burke, Jennifer Ehle, (more)
The fortunes of a family of Hungarian Jews are followed over the course of nearly 150 years in this epic historical drama, with leading man Ralph Fiennes playing three different roles. The story begins in the late 18th century, as Aaron and Josefa Sonnenschein (the name means "Sunshine" in German) die in an explosion while making an herb tonic for sale in their village. Their son Emmanuel (David de Keyser), the only survivor of the tragedy, travels to Budapest, carrying the recipe for the medicine with him. He's able to parlay the formula into a successful business, and Emmanuel and his wife Rose (Miriam Margolyes) raise two sons, Ignatz (Ralph Fiennes), who becomes a successful lawyer, and hot-tempered Gustave (James Frain). The Sonnenscheins also make room in their home for Valerie (Jennifer Ehle), but Emmanuel and Rose become furious when Valerie becomes romantically involved with Ignatz. Eventually, Valerie and Ignatz raise two children, Istvan (Mark Strong) and Adam (Ralph Fiennes), and the family changes its name to Sors in hopes of avoiding the anti-Semitism sweeping Europe. In time, Adam goes so far as to convert to Catholicism, and he marries another Catholic, Hannah (Molly Parker). He soon begins an affair with his brother's wife, Greta (Rachel Weisz), who is unable to persuade Adam to leave as the Nazis rise to power. Adam and Hannah have only one son, Ivan, who is fated to watch his father die in a concentration camp; as Ivan grows to adulthood (now played by Ralph Fiennes), he swears revenge on the forces of fascism and embraces Communism. Ivan throws in his lot with Communist leader Andor Knorr (William Hurt), but a liaison with the wife of a party official (Deborah Kara Unger) leads Ivan to tragic consequences and a jail term. In time, Valarie and Gustave are reunited at the family's estate as the only two members of the Sonnenschein clan who survive to witness the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. Hungarian director Istvan Szabo co-wrote Sunshine's original screenplay in collaboration with American playwright Israel Horovitz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, (more)
Rose Troche (Go Fish) directed this British romantic comedy with various gay characters in London. Impish Darren (Tom Hollander) urges lonely Leo (Kevin McKidd of Trainspotting) to get a more active social life, as does neighbor Angie (Julie Graham). When friend Adam (Christopher Fulford) gets Leo to join the therapy group run by New Age-styled guru Keith (Simon Callow), Leo meets good-looking Irishman Brendan (James Purefoy), who's just ending a lengthy relationship with his business partner, Sally (Jennifer Ehle). Sally just happens to be Leo's high-school sweetheart. It's not long before Leo and Brendan pair off. Shown in the Market section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin McKidd, Hugo Weaving, (more)
Originally adapted for German television in 1966, Francis Durbridge's mystery novel Melissa was remade as a British miniseries in 1974. That version was sufficiently famous to warrant an expensive four-part reworking nearly a quarter of a century later. Expanding considerably upon the original, this new version of Melissa told the story of war correspondent Guy Foster (Tim Dutton), who, after the death of his wife in a car accident, embarked upon an ocean voyage to forget his troubles. En route, he enjoyed a shipboard romance with an ethereally beautiful woman named Melissa (Jennifer Ehle), who shortly afterward died in mysterious circumstances. The plot thickened as several of Guy's other acquaintances were likewise knocked off, one by one, until the hero found himself accused of their murders. Melissa debuted over Britain's Channel 4 on May 12, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Dutton, Jennifer Ehle, (more)
Based on the testimony of survivors, this historical drama recounts the WWII heroism of female prisoners of war. (Glenn Close) stars as Adrienne Partiger, a society doyenne who flees Singapore with other expatriate women, mostly the wives of servicemen, when Japanese forces invade in 1942. When their gunboat is sunk in an air attack, the survivors wash ashore on Japanese-held Sumatra. The women are interned in a grim POW camp where punishments for even minor infractions are extreme. With the help of a missionary (Pauline Collins), Partiger corrals the women, including a tough American (Julianna Margulies), an Australian nurse (Cate Blanchett) and a young wife (Jennifer Ehle) into a musical group. Since singing is not allowed, the a cappella chorus dubs itself "a vocal orchestra" and is tolerated -- if barely -- by their Japanese captors. Though living conditions are squalid, food is scarce, and a thin sliver of soap inspires a shower brawl, the music keeps spirits uplifted and a Jewish-German doctor (Frances McDormand) provides some medical aid. Writer-director Bruce Beresford interviewed real-life participants in similar POW musical groups. Some provided, from memory, sheet music of the pieces they performed, which were used in the film. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Pauline Collins, (more)
Literary genius, legendary wit, bon vivant, and gay martyr, Oscar Wilde was a man whose legend has grown to iconic proportions since his death at the beginning of the 20th century. Establishing Wilde (Stephen Fry) as a loving family man, complete with a wife (Jennifer Ehle) and two adorable sons, the film takes pains to portray him as a dignified genius who was as pained by what he considered his own sin -- his homosexuality -- as he was delighted by the sins of others. From his initial encounters with Robbie Ross (Michael Sheen), his first male lover, through his tragic affair with the beautiful and bratty Alfred Lord Douglas (a perfectly cast Jude Law), Wilde is seen as a conflicted fellow, warring with his own urges even as he dazzles everyone around him. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Fry, Jude Law, (more)
Jane Austen's classic novel is brought to the screen once again in this intelligent and witty romantic drama. Elizabeth Bennett (Jennifer Ehle) is one of five sisters living on a British country estate in the 1800s. At a time and place in which matrimony is considered a woman's logical goal in life, Elizabeth displays a cautious reluctance toward marriage -- so when a wealthy young man, Fitzwilliam Darcy (Colin Firth) expresses an interest in courting her, she isn't so sure she cares for him. Elizabeth and Darcy discover that they have a great deal to learn about each other -- and no small amount to overcome in their minds -- if they are to find happiness together. Pride and Prejudice was produced as a five hour mini-series by the BBC and was first shown in the U.S. on the A&E cable network. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, (more)
Good Neighbors co-stars Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington reunite for director Ken Taylor's adaptation of Mary Wesley's popular novel concerning the innocent summer before war changed everything, and the relationship shared by five cousins as they gather to pay tribute to their deceased uncle years later. As the warm breeze of August blows in the summer of 1939, five cousins gather on the Cornish coast to spend their carefree summer days bonding in the lavish estate of their wealthy uncle. War looms ominously on the horizon, though, and as these five youngsters bide their time by exploring the hills and cliffs of the countryside, they remain blissfully unaware that their lives are about to be changed forever. Decades later, in the shadow of a death, the cousins return to their childhood playground to pay their respects and share stories of how their lives were forever changed in the dark days following that one, unforgettable summer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
