I came upon Angels and Insects via my manager Kate who is from London. She had mentioned seeing British born Mark Rylance on Broadway and still behind culturally, I had only heard of him visa vie his Academy Award winning performance in Bridge of Spies. So I scoured his IMDB page and there he was in Angels and Insects (novel by A.S. Byatt, directed by Philip Haas, adapted by Belinda Haas) winner of the Palm d”ors at Cannes. By the way, a quick study on the husband wife Haas team doesn’t show any recent work and yet I also don’t see any note of death. Perhaps they are simply retired and enjoying life.
The movie was fantastic and I’m actually surprised it didn’t gain more awards. Mark Rylance is brilliant as the introverted and humble scientist who falls into a wealthy family. Kristin Scott Thomas, as you well know, is one of my favorites. I keep finding films, both old and new, and am always excited. Here, while she was supposed to be playing the underclass science nerd, she can’t help glowing in that sultry way of hers. Patsy Kensit plays the lilting Lily, Rylance falls for (and research on her indicated she has me beat by a marriage or two, all to rockers, and none of which lasted more than 4 years). Douglas Henshall plays the bullying brother and was tremendous. He’s still active in British tv and was nominated recently for a BAFTA in Scotland.
In case you’d want to borrow it from your local library, I won’t say too much about the plot. Suffice to say, it takes some twists and turns and (and picture Groucho Marx and his cigar) speaking to twists and turns, has some of the best filmed sex scenes I’ve seen in a long time. Those Brits don’t mind showing the bodies and why not? They all looked great!
