Dreaming of Joseph Lees
USA/UK 1998
Reviewed by Kieron Corless
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Somerset, 1958. Unaware that his cousin Eva has been in love with him since they were teenagers, Joseph left England to pursue his geological career. He is now a recluse since an accident left him with an artificial leg. Local farmer Harry attempts to seduce Eva but she still dreams of Joseph and resists his advances. Eva is distraught when her father refuses to let her travel to a relative's funeral which Joseph will attend. She is increasingly attracted to Harry despite herself. After two months of courtship, she refuses marriage but moves in with him at his farm, with her father's blessing.
Eva finally meets Joseph at a family wedding where they discover a strong mutual attraction. Harry realises Joseph has supplanted him in Eva's affections. As his grasp on sanity becomes more precarious, Harry threatens suicide. He has sex with a local woman which drives Eva into Joseph's arms. Eva rejoins Harry when she hears his condition has worsened. Harry tries to saw one of his legs off; while he recuperates, Joseph arrives and implores Eva to go to Italy with him. Her final decision remains ambiguous.
Review
"Follow your heart," counsels Eva's father when she declares her intention to move in with boyfriend Harry. Typical advice in the context of a romantic psychodrama, if a shade implausible from a 50s patriarch. Ironic too that Eva, unbeknownst to him, is acting on it in such a roundabout fashion. Her decision to live in sin is partly for expediency's sake, leaving her options open should her true love Joseph return. Eva's combination of sly opportunism and strategic romanticism seems calculated to resonate with modern audiences, but Eric Styles' debut feature is a timid, undercooked affair.
Dreaming of Joseph Lees unfolds at a brisk pace but its unwillingness to loiter means we never really explore the implications of the unfolding events or, more frustratingly, get a chance to probe the characters' motivations. Eva's love for her cousin, for instance, is presented as a given and we never really explore the reasons behind her prolonged obsession. Rupert Graves in the underwritten role of Joseph sleepwalks through the film looking understandably bemused by it all.
Harry's plunge into madness effectively kills off any chance of a full-blooded triangular drama, leaving Eva merely to resolve her conflict between duty and passion, and reducing him from a charismatic seducer to a rustic simpleton. And if the dramatic tone of the film varies wildly, its laboured visual style remains honey-coated throughout, with Styles demonstrating a particular fondness for light snaking through windows, drenching everything in an amber glow. The dreams of the title are principally figured as softly lit mood pieces lifted from Athena posters (aptly enough for a film so astonishingly coy about Eva's sexuality and unconscious life), while the overwrought score puffs and pants unremittingly towards emotional overkill.
Apart from Frank Finlay's enjoyably acerbic turn as Eva's father, Samantha Morton provides the film's sole interest. Morton's debut in Under the Skin revealed a brave, edgy talent, and in the penultimate scene here she pulls off a minor miracle. Joseph's arrival at the farmhouse finally confronts Eva with the stark choice of leaving with him or staying to tend Harry. She turns Joseph away initially, and for once the camera fixes at length on Eva as she collapses in the hallway alone, her face a riot of incomprehension and anguished conflict. Despite our total disengagement hitherto, the raw self-exposure and tensile force in Morton's performance here is credible and moving. The film stumbles on to a bizarre, snatched ending, but the prospect of this extraordinary actress returning to more challenging material in the future is a genuinely tantalising one.
Credits
- Producer
- Christopher Milburn
- Screenplay
- Catherine Linstrum
- Director of Photography
- Jimmy Dibling
- Editor
- Caroline Limmer
- Production Designer
- Humphrey Jaeger
- Music
- Zbigniew Preisner
- ©Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
- Production Companies
- Fox Searchlight Pictures presents a Christopher Milburn production in association with The Isle of Man Film Commission
- Executive Producer
- Mark Thomas
- Line Producer
- Matthew Kuipers
- Associate Producer
- Chris Harris
- Production Co-ordinator
- Paige Nunnerley
- London Co-ordinator
- Stéphane Jaggers
- Location Managers
- Caroline Cox
- Paul Morton
- Post-production Supervisors
- Michael Solinger
- Jatinderpal Chohan
- Assistant Directors
- Alison B. Matthews
- Pauline Oni
- Ian Hutchinson
- Script Supervisor
- Amanda Jane Lean
- Casting
- Directors:
- Liora Reich
- Carrie Hilton
- Additional:
- Jay-Dee Promotions
- 2nd Unit Camera Operators
- Trevor Coop
- David Shillingford
- Aerial Shots Camera
- Gifford Hooper
- 2nd Unit Steadicam
- Jamie Fowlds
- Digital Effects
- Men in White Coats
- Special Effects Co-ordinator
- Tony Auger
- Art Director
- Lucy Nias
- Set Decorators
- Richard Tongé
- Colin Ellis
- Costume Designer
- Maggie Chappelhow
- Costume Supervisor
- Tina Hackett-James
- Wardrobe Mistress
- Amanda Cole
- Chief Make-up Artist/Hair Stylist
- Julie Van Praag
- Hair Stylist
- Paula Price
- Title Design
- Janice Mordue
- Titles/Opticals
- General Screen Enterprises
- Music Performed by
- The Philharmonia Orchestra
- Soloists
- Voice:
- Dorota Slezak
- Recorder:
- Jacek Ostaszewski
- Piano:
- Leszek Mozdzer
- Alex Maguire
- Guitar:
- John Parricelle
- Bass Guitar:
- Andy Pask
- Percussion:
- David Corkhill
- Kevin Hathway
- Jews Harp:
- Alasdair Malloy
- Conductor
- Jacek Kaspszyk
- Music Supervisor
- Jem Shuttleworth
- Music Editor
- Andrew Glen
- Engineer
- Rafal Paczkowski
- Additional Engineering
- Geoff Foster
- Soundtrack
- "Fever" by John Davenport, Eddie Cooley, performed by Peggy Lee; "Alright, Okay, You Win" by Wyche, Watts, arranged by Dyfan Jones, performed by Siân James & The Manx Jazz Aces
- Choreography
- Mary Mitchell
- Sound Mixer
- Phil Edward
- Dubbing Mixer
- Tim Alban
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Paul Davies
- Dialogue Editor
- Stewart Henderson
- ADR
- Recordist:
- Pete Smith
- Foley
- Artists:
- Jack Stew
- Felicity Cottrell
- Editor:
- Jeremy Price
- Boxing Coach
- Harry Selby
- Stunt Co-ordinators
- Richard Hammatt
- Rod Woodruff
- Animal Wranglers
- Gordon Clague
- Valerie Hanmer
- Andrea Ball
- Aerial Shots Pilot
- Phillip George
- Cast
- Samantha Morton
- Eva Babbins
- Lee Ross
- Harry Flite
- Miriam Margolyes
- Signora Caldoni
- Frank Finlay
- Eva's father
- Nick Woodeson
- Mr Dian
- Holly Aird
- Maria Flite, Harry's sister
- Rupert Graves
- Joseph Lees
- Felix Billson
- Robert Babbins, Eva's brother
- Lauren Richardson
- Janie Babbins, Eva's sister
- Vernon Dobtcheff
- Italian doctor
- Freddie Douglas
- Danny
- Richie Tongé
- nude model
- Harry Selby
- 1st boxer
- Juan Thomas
- referee
- Emma Cunniffe
- red-haired girl
- Siân James
- singer
- Dyfan Jones
- double bass player
- Doug Davidson
- saxophone player
- Terry Quayle
- trombonist
- Don Elliott
- trumpet player
- Jim Caine
- pianist
- Peter Gardner
- guitarist
- Ken Ingham
- drummer
- Anthony Hannan
- wedding guest
- Margaret John
- Aunt Margaret
- Julian Symmonds
- 2nd boxer
- Certificate
- 12
- Distributor
- 20th Century Fox (UK)
- 8,263 feet
- 91 minutes 49 seconds
- Dolby
- Colour by
- DeLuxe London