Amy Foster - In the sea of feelings
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Amy Foster - In the sea of feelings |
| Original title | Swept from the Sea |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1997 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Beeban Kidron |
| script | Tim Willocks |
| production | Beeban Kidron, Charles Steel , Polly Tapson |
| music | John Barry |
| camera | Dick Pope |
| cut | Andrew Mondshein |
| occupation | |
| |
Amy Foster - Swept from the Sea (Original title: Swept from the Sea ) is an American drama directed by Beeban Kidron from 1997 . The screenplay by Tim Willocks is based on the novel Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad from the year 1,901th
action
The action takes place in Cornwall at the end of the 19th century. Yanko Gooral is the only survivor of the sinking of a ship used by Ukrainian emigrants. As the first person after the disaster, Gooral meets the young Amy Foster; she takes care of him for a few days and they fall in love although they cannot understand each other. Since Gooral does not speak a word of English, the other villagers encounter Gooral with great suspicion after his rapid recovery; he is classified as a madman and has to work as a slave .
Amy is an outsider in the village because of her difficult, silent character. She often wanders around the coast by herself, picks up flotsam lying around and hoards them in a cave like treasure. Amy has a tense relationship with her parents, the cynical Isaac and the hardened Mary; in particular, Isaac accuses her of ruining his life because Mary was pregnant before they were married.
Gooral befriends Dr. James Kennedy, for whom he becomes like a surrogate son. Kennedy once had a family of his own, but tragically lost it and has lived alone ever since. Gooral turns out to be an intelligent, docile student and is gradually learning English. When he has made some money doing better work, he buys a suit and courts Amy. Finally he asks for her hand. Amy's parents resist this association; in bitter arguments it turns out that Amy was not conceived by Isaac but by his father and Isaac is not Amy's father, but her half-brother.
Some men from the village, while drunk, talk themselves into a rage one evening and take out their anger on Yanko, who happens to be passing by with Amy. They almost drown him in the sea, Amy can rush to his help, he is being treated by the doctor, but has swallowed a lot of water and got it into his lungs, from which he never fully recovers.
Mr. Swaffer, a with Dr. Kennedy, landowner friend, gives the young family a house and a considerable piece of land, which they soon begin to cultivate. Against all odds, Gooral and Amy get their marriage done, and Amy soon gives birth to a healthy boy whom she calls "Stephan".
Gooral falls ill with pneumonia, like many villagers in this harsh winter, and when a storm hits one night, Amy calls the doctor, who cannot stay because he has many other patients. But he promises to come back. In a delirium, Gooral begins again to speak in his foreign language. The doctor is held up by the storm. Gooral rises feverishly from his bed and harasses Amy in an increasingly threatening manner until she finally flees the house with the child in a panic. She seeks help from her parents, but her mother rudely and reproachfully rejects her. When Dr. Kennedy comes to the house, he finds Gooral dying. It turns out that all he wanted from Amy was a glass of water.
In the aftermath of Gooral's death, Dr. Kennedy Amy for the ease with which she appears to get over her husband's death. He tells the paralyzed Miss Swaffer the whole story, which then reminds him of how he once had to suppress and forget the loss of his family in order to be able to go on living. Dr. Kennedy realizes he wronged Amy; he drives to her and apologizes to her.
Reviews
James Berardinelli described the film on ReelViews as "failed". The film tries to “touch the heart with a mixture of comedy and tragedy”, but neither the comic nor the tragic scenes would work - the latter because of the particularly poor representations.
The lexicon of international films wrote: “The film adaptation of a story by Joseph Conrad as a great emotional cinema, which, however, does not develop any persuasiveness or arouse feelings. A film that failed in all respects and that evokes boredom and involuntary amusement. "
background
The story by Joseph Conrad on which the film is based shows parallels to Conrad's own life: he came to England as a Polish seaman and there learned the foreign language well enough to later be able to publish stories and novels, some of which are now considered world literature become.
The film was shot in England , especially Cornwall . It had its world premiere on September 9, 1997 at the Toronto International Film Festival . The film grossed approximately $ 280,000 in US cinemas .
Web links
- Amy Foster - from the Sea in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Amy Foster - from the Sea at Rotten Tomatoes (English)