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May 15, 2018downsman rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
(Minimal Spoilers). This is a film I preferred in retrospect to the experience of actually watching it. Well-acted and presented (though with a plot that seems more than a little implausible, given the time period) it seems to suggest that intolerable situations can create monsters, in this case a woman who, despite being a victim of Victorian patriarchy within a very odd marriage (her husband will not have sex with her but does objectify her fetishistically), proves exceptionally strong-willed and chillingly adept at survival at all costs. We see a strong hint of her psychopathology in her reaction to the humiliating abuse of her maid Anna by male workers; she puts a stop to it but exhibits no sympathy for the poor woman, her only reflection on the episode being an aroused sexual interest in one of the abusers. As another viewer has commented (below), it's all more (skewed) Bronte than Shakespeare; the only real connection between the Bard's Lady M and the movie's Katherine is that both are ruthless, supremely determined, and hold power over a man. Of the two, though, Katherine is far more morally disturbing.