(2006) "Tied to a lunatic for life," Edward Rochester in Charlotte Brontė's Jane Eyre keeps his wife locked away in confinement until the day he's to be married to Jane when the mansion goes up in flames. Written as a prequel to the 19th-century classic, Jean Rys's novel of a doomed love affair becomes the BBC-produced vehicle for director Brendan Maher to portray the poignant picture from the point of view of Antoinette Cosway (Rebecca Hall, though not the beauty the story calls for) from Stephen Greenhorn's script.

As the second son of his father, exempted from inheritance of the family estate and title, Edward (Rafe Spall) sails to Jamaica in the West Indies to make his own way in the world. Upon his arrival, he's greeted warmly by Richard Mason (Alex Robertson), a friend of the family, who introduces Edward to his stepsister Antoinette: "You are exactly what she needs."

On an island of secrets and treasure where the sultry air is full of insects and the fragrance of tropical flowers, an Englishman unused to the climate can fall under a feverish spell. "You don't know anything about me," says Antoinette, a white Creole heiress to £30,000, whose Aunt Cora (Victoria Hamilton) cautions her against Richard's eagerness to have her taken off his hands.

"I have sold my soul," Edward self-confesses before promising Antoinette everything she wishes - safety, prosperity, peace, and happiness. Following their wedding, she takes him up to her "sweet honeymoon house," Grandbois, her home where she grew up away from the plantation. Here as well in the household Edward becomes acquainted with sharp-tongued Christophine (Nina Sosanya), formerly Antoinette's colored nurse, and Amelie (Lorraine Burroughs), a beautiful dark-skinned servant.

Though she's never lived elsewhere, Antoinette tells Edward that here is where she would most prefer her heart to lie. More free spirited than her British husband with his English breeding, she nonetheless is haunted by fears of losing the dream granted her: "I'm not used to happiness."

Forebodingly another relation, Daniel (Fraser Ayres), her dark Creole stepbrother through a different mother, plants the seeds of destruction in Edward's thoughts, telling the Englishman of the wickedness (slaves on the plantation before the emancipation) and madness (Antoinette's mother locked away after trying to murder Mr Mason) associated with the Cosway family. Further, Daniel warns Edward of Christophine's obeah (bad magic) and then, attempting blackmail, says Antoinette had been with their cousin Sandi before Edward: "You're not the first."

Turning cold and distant toward his wife, harshly questioning her about her mother, Edward ceases to sleep or speak with her. He wants her to have a proper English name; she says she has been called "white cockroach."

Declining Christophine's advice to leave Edward, Antoinette pleads for her to use her special powers: "Make him come to me." Then taking Christophine's counsel to tell Edward truthfully the circumstances of her mother's imprisonment, Antoinette unwittingly poisons her relationship with Edward; she listens on the other side of the door while he ravishes Amelie. "There is no justice" for her, only hatred inside a living hell, lost somewhere in the Sargasso Sea.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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