If you are not familiar with the novel, you're likely to think the story an engaging frolic with almost the air of a gothic thriller... fun enough until the pivotal scene that warns you: the battle of the sexes often turns ugly, and occasionally fatal. For those who don't know: Clarissa is a pious, intellectual young heiress whose family tries to pressure her to marry a repulsive man. In escaping him, she ends up under the control of Mr. Lovelace, a man who is far more appealing, but ultimately deadly.
If you are familiar with the novel, you'll have some quibbles. Saskia Wickham is a cutie, but Clarissa was supposed to be such a beauty that she turned heads everywhere she went... when Lovelace first approaches her family, he already knows who she is, and although he's never seen her, her reputation for beauty, wit, and religious devotion has made her the rake's target. She's also rather delicate, and faints often. Saskia Wickham comes across more like a feisty little kitten who isn't going to take any crap. By the time the movie was over, I admired her. But it's definitely a departure from the novel, wherein she was a fragile, ethereal angel who crumpled to the floor at the drop of a hat. I'd imagine a young Emmy Rossum, but smarter. (I hope that's not mean.)
Due to the length of the novel, several twists and turns in the plot, and several characters, are cut out, including Clarissa's best friend Anna's plan to send thugs to save her from Lovelace, which is a pity, because for such a good friend, Anna is remarkably helpless to aid Clarissa in any way. (And if you're like me, you spent half the book thinking, "If Anna would just marry Hickman, they could save Clarissa immediately. She's going to anyway, eventually. Do it now so you can help, Anna!" But no.)
Another scene left out is Lovelace's self-poisoning, wherein he takes something that makes him vomit blood because he wants to see if she cares about him. I like this scene because it has, first of all, a lot of potential for comedy, and secondly, shows what a nut Lovelace is.
A third left out scene that I truly regret is one of their many battles in the sitting room where Clarissa collapses, accidentally bounces her face off a chair and gets a bloody nose. The blood runs down her chest, Lovelace thinks she's stabbed herself, and goes into hysterics. This is a far more entertaining scene than some of the ones they chose to insert, like the creepy kiss shared by Clarissa's brother and sister. It's not in the book, and I want those 10 seconds back.
The fourth and final scene that really should have made the cut is when Lovelace decides that the first rape doesn't really count because she was unconscious (in the movie she's awake and struggling, held down by the prostitutes, and it's really disturbing. In the novel she's barely aware of what's happening.) So he decides to try again when she's awake, and she's ready this time. She has a knife. And she doesn't threaten him with it, she threatens herself. In fact, her willingness to kill herself so terrifies Lovelace, he throws himself across the room and onto the floor to stop her.
Instead, the movie wastes several minutes on a dream sequence that, while it does have foreshadowing value, could have been dealt with the same way the novel did: in one sentence. "I dreamed that he... (blah blah blah)." One sentence.
Because the character of Clarissa's cousin is cut out, the task of avenging Clarissa falls to his best friend Belford, and although many find it satisfying, I don't. In the book, Belford's character arc becomes the most notable: he reforms, and devotes himself to being a better person through his witnessing of Clarissa's tragic fate. He wouldn't start that journey of redemption off with a murder. In the novel, to the very end he's begging Lovelace to reform, and worries about his friend's fate both in this life and in the afterlife. Clarissa's cousin, an older military man with no illusions or particular beliefs, was well-suited to enter the story too late to help her, and settle upon avenging her as his second best option.
As for some of the other characters, the actress playing Mrs Sinclair, the brothel owner, was far too young and pretty. She was supposed to be a terrifying, oddly masculine dragon. But the two jealous young prostitutes were well played, as were the other minor characters. And it's a pity we don't see Mrs Sinclair's ultimate fate: a gruesome death, long drawn out, and with plenty of agony and drama.
I also have a beef with their choice of Mr Solmes. He was portrayed in the movie as a goofy little fop with horrific teeth, but in the book he was a large, clumsy, older man who was without any fashion or style. In 1991, Phil Davis (the killer cabby in 2010 Sherlock Holmes) would have been just the right age. He was supposed to be a strange combination of wheedling and vaguely threatening, the type who dropped fairly bald hints that he wasn't opposed to hurting his bride if that's what it took to bring her in line. The movie's portrayal made him a pathetic little clown, but no one to be intimidated by. I don't know why they made that change. It didn't add to the story.
BUT... all these complaints aside, it's a worthy attempt at this monster of a novel. Sean Bean is... well, he's Sean Bean. I spent most of the movie wondering why she resisted at all. I wouldn't have held out 24 hours. He is a bit harsh-featured for Georgian wigs, but his appeal comes through. I particularly like the scene where he's playing a spinet (I think) and thoroughly charming two women while he lightly manipulates their perceptions of Clarissa, and himself.
I also enjoyed his dressing up as an old man so he can sneak up on his prey, who is just congratulating herself that she has escaped the clutches of the evil seducer. But no, here he is! (She faints.)
And while Saskia Wickham is more cute than beautiful, more sturdy than delicate, she definitely fulfills the intellectual requirements of Clarissa. She delivers every line with conviction and quickness, and one never doubts her brains or her focus.
Having her waste away in a prison cell rather than the respectable suite she rents from the glove maker was rather over-the-top, and again, unnecessary to the pathos, but ... well, the movie sometimes varies from the novel. I would not have had it so, it makes the viewer wonder why those around her, including Belford, who is by now her champion, suffers her to let herself die in such a setting. But all in all... it's an effecting movie, and if it compels anyone to try and read the novel, as it did me, then it's a valuable endeavor.
