A fascinating film about people acting like insects. The costuming is beyond brilliant, but it is the actions of the people that really are striking in this film.The matriarch of the family is definitely a Queen ant or bee. She constantly gorges herself as the others flutter about serving her.But it is Eugenia (Patsy Kensit) who is the focus of the film. A poor naturalist (Mark Rylance) is madly in love with her, but her racist brother (Douglas Henshall) warns him that he is not of the right class and should be real. William (Rylance) flits ever so cautiously towards Eugenia's web and is ensnared. I am sure there is something beneath the surface here; maybe the same something that caused Eugenia's former fiancée to kill himself.But, it is not always the beautiful butterfly that attracts. Sometimes, it is a plain little ant like Matty Crompton (Kristin Scott Thomas), who is busily working on her own plans for William.This all takes place shortly after Darwin's Origin of the Species was published, and during the Civil War in America. Both colored the story.Upon the death of Mother, Eugenia ascends the role of Queen ant, continuing to produce heirs. At the same time, a collaboration of William and Matty results in a book being published.Then the shocking secret comes forth.Mark Rylance, Patsy Kensit, and Kristin Scott Thomas were all fantastic in this shocking tale.

I had to watch this film for a class about Mid-Victorian Britain...with my professors and my class...and I was shocked at the story; Not just how awful the acting was, but that the script was actually bought and given a green light for production. The costumes were stylized and the design was nominated for an Oscar...how that was possible, I don't even know. The only thing redeemable about the film is Kristen Scott Thomas. Mark Rylance and Patsy Kensit give two of the worst performances I have ever seen in my entire life. Rylance's pitch and tone of voice never changes and Kensit was overly dramatic to the point of being comical. I would only see this movie if you want to laugh. But even at that, you're going to be wasting money...even energy by renting this movie. Stay away...

A U.S.-British co-production for PBS, from A.S. Byatt's story "Morpho Eugenia" (a better title!), this head-scratcher of a human drama involves a Victorian England bug-specialist who comes to stay with a wealthy family and falls in love with his benefactor's lovely but unstable daughter. A carefully plotted picture, which might mean slow or sluggish--yet the film is never boring. Moments of eccentricity, romance and surrealism are blended together with skill, and the actresses in particular (Kristen Scott Thomas and the wonderfully brave Patsy Kensit) are first-rate. It's a difficult film, but one worth staying with. **1/2 from ****

Most previous reviews of this film seem to take up extreme positions: They express either fervent admiration or virulent dislike. The first group seems to be from lovers of British period films such as the Merchant-Ivory productions, while the second seem to come from filmgoers with more pedestrian sensibilities. 'Angels and Insects' is certainly better than the usual Hollywood garbage, but it is certainly not of the caliber of the best British period films. There is a scene near the end of the film where the main character shuffles a hand of cards and in so doing rearranges the word 'INCEST' to spell 'INSECT.' Maybe this anagram was the inspiration for this entire story!William Adamson, a Victorian naturalist/entomologist of modest means, suffers a devastating career setback in the course of returning from a Brazilian expedition. Sir Harald Alabaster, who also likes entomology, takes pity on him and offers him refuge at the Alabaster estate, where he meets and marries the beautiful oldest daughter Aurelia, who, true to her name, has golden hair, but who in fact seems to be little more than a pair of ovaries with legs. He actually has more in common with drab, plain governess Matty Crompton, who turns out to be an amateur entomologist who is more accomplished than he is! With nothing else to do, he sets about studying the insects on the Alabaster estate. Matty volunteers to be his assistant. The lives of the Victorian idle rich are portrayed as days of mind-numbing fatuousness, but strangely, Adamson's intellectual pursuits are not made much more interesting. He is looked down upon by his brother-in-law Edgar, a thoroughly hateful young man who seems to be interested mainly in molesting all the young female servants. Aurelia produces child after child for William, but somehow they seem quite unlike him, and he has trouble feeling any connection with them. The reason becomes apparent when he discovers that all the children are the product of incest between Aurelia and Edgar, which has gone on for many years. William is scandalized, of course, but is also glad to have a reason to leave the Alabaster estate. Matty confesses her love for him, and off they go to South America. Fade to black.This film has a great look but the plot lacks the immediacy or interest of, say, Howards End. The actors are also not of the caliber of the best films of the genre. It is more like viewing a succession of Victorian paintings than watching a supposedly living, moving story. Compositions are strangely drab and lusterless and the dialogue is muffled and difficult to make out. Master shots that are meant to be stately and imposing come across as static and boring. And the great secret of the film, i.e., the incest, actually fails to make much of an impact, and Patsy Kensit is spectacularly unconvincing as the mortified, disgraced Aurelia after William discovers her.