It's 1880 New Zealand. Victoria (Jodie Foster) is on trial. She recalls her journey to that point. As a baby, she was dropped off at an orphanage. Growing up at the orphanage, she is introduced to merchant Oliver Thompson (John Lithgow) who quickly proposes. She marries the stranger and discovers that he's a controlling, volatile creep. His father is more of the same but his brother George is much more sensitive.The first half is perfectly fine. It's got the bad husband and brutalized young wife. It builds to a tense climatic moment halfway through. It does struggle to maintain that intensity in the second half. There is some ambiguity to the plot which does not really help. It needs to be tightened. It probably should turn into a trial movie with flashbacks. Although Jodie Foster was still in her early 20s, the character needs to be a teen and the closing text reveals the inspiration to be the trial of a 19 year old wife. Her vulnerability would be heighten with a younger actress. The movie seems to be holding back which prevents it from being better.

Victoria, a young orphan in late-19th-century New Zealand, enters into an arranged marriage with a wealthy older man; when she comes of age, she leaves the orphanage and goes to live with her husband, who is little more than a stranger to her, and finds married life difficult to face. Her new husband is loutish and chauvinistic, but he has a handsome sensitive younger brother, which complicates the young girl's life. A romantic triangle, tragedy, and mystery ensue; when Oliver, the husband, becomes ill, the cause could be the chemicals he uses to exterminate rats or something more sinister. "Mesmerized," which was originally titled "My Letter to George," is a tidy did-she or didn't-she supposedly based on true events. Co-written and directed by Michael Laughlin, the film may be too slow for some; events unfold at a leisurely pace, but those attuned to PBS dramas or Merchant-Ivory productions may find it to their liking.Jodie Foster both co-produced and stars as Victoria, the orphaned child bride; her cool impassive demeanor suits the role of an unwilling wife in a loveless marriage. However, her iciness extends a bit too far, and little heat ignites between Foster and Don Shor, who plays the younger brother, George, which undercuts their supposed attraction. John Lithgow breathes life into Oliver, the grizzled insensitive husband; he has some good moments, and his character is more vibrant and alive than that of the cold Victoria. Harry Andrews also does well as Oliver's equally loutish father.A delicate score by Georges Delerue enhances the period film, and the script, co-written by Jerzy Skolimowski, is well written and literate. A short, well intentioned movie, "Mesmerized" is no classic, but better than average, and boasts a good performance by Lithgow, a fine score by Delerue, and an enigmatic fade-out that will leave viewers pondering, "Did she? Or didn't she?"

Comparing Jodie Foster's 1986 New Zealand based film with New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson's poisonously awful 2006 "remake" of King Kong, Foster is the clear-cut winner. The difference is that Foster's film is a quality movie. Mesmurized also compares well with Foster's own Panic Room or Flightplan. In Mesmurized the suspense is real, in the other two pictures the suspense is contrived and quickly forgotten. With rich local color recreating New Zealand in the 1880's this picture drives home the lack of opportunity and repressiveness women lived with a century ago. These days young women have a wealth of opportunity in choosing a mate, a sex partner, a career, everything. Here this girl goes from an orphanage into an arranged marriage, to live with a man she neither knows nor loves, with no apparent opportunity to either escape or change. This was called NORMAL. The somewhat abusive John Lithgow character is deep-down frightened of his wife, clueless as to how to communicate with a woman and establish a loving friendship. His brother George has no such problem, simply inviting Jodie "would you care to look at the dogs" -- doesn't sound like much, does it; but it amounts to an opening-up of friendship. The hard suspense lies in whether and how Foster will free herself from the repression. I well understand the negative reviews posted herein. Young people today have no knowledge of the harsh repressions of yesteryear, a time and place where paths to happiness dead-ended fast. God bless their ignorance; celebrate their joy.

I bought this film at a 99 Cents store and basically got my money's worth. But I was very disappointed. Where was all the cruelty and bizarre sexual behavior? It really left a lot to your imagination, and a lot to be desired. No frontal nudity, whips, chains, trapeezes, or kinky three-somes. Not even a Clinton-Monica performance. The only gruesome part was the poor old guy getting his teeth pulled - WITHOUT anesthesia. That did nothing to satisfy my sexual curiosity. So if you want to see 19th century New Zealand with period costumes and American accents, go buy Mesmerized. It won't leave you that way, but it won't leave you broke either.