Good idea lost in the noise

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This movie was great, starting off as Eva daydreaming about her second cousin Joseph Lees a Geologist who has been in Italy and has similar interests as her own.She meets Harry Flite a pig farmer who pursues Eva and badly wants her to be with him and Eva goes and lives with Harry and they have a very sexual relationship and seem in love. Then one day Eva's little sister and father turn up for a visit and she tells Eva that a relative is getting married and that all their cousins and second cousins are going to be there, which stirs her daydreaming to re-surface, she goes to the wedding and dances with her second cousin and when dropped back to Harry's place he trys to dance with her and have fun but she comes across as cold and harry picks upon this. After her cousin sends her some books she gets deeply interested in him further and Harry senses something is up they have a fight and he goes to watch another boxing match and some girl catches his eye,they have sex,wherever Eva was she returns and Harry is asleep on the bed and she kisses his hand and realizes the smell of cheating(other woman's sexual scent). Eva leaves and goes to her cousin where they make love a lot of times and Harry goes crazy and Eva feels bad and goes home to him only to have Harry go saw his leg off cause he can see she is aching to leave him again.her cousin turns up and she tells him to go cause she doesn't want Harry to know he is there,then she runs outside to her cousin and they share a passionate kiss.Im thinking the ending meant she had to stick by Harry because it was expected in those days even though they were not married,so she is stuck with a burden. Lusting over a cousin like that is sickening I don't care if they were second cousins or not they are still part blood related,shame on you Eva.I saw this movie very late at night and I doubt you would find it in a video store these days.

Again, the Brits show off their capacity for quality adult drama, story lines not dummied down for public consumption, and actors whose ability to shine in roles without special effects, gratuitous nudity, and oversize lips makes this film a viewing delight. Rupert Graves is an actor whose face reflects emotional pain and sensuality in equal amounts. He is a treasure in this film. Stories of human dilema, period costumes, and location interiors add to the brilliant presentation.

Another transcendent performance from Samantha Morton (she was also the female lead in Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown").This is a truly lovely film, "small" in the sense that only a few characters and their lives are affected by the love triangle, but "large" in the sense that it will strike a familiar chord for many viewers. Morton's face seems to show every thought or feeling that passes through her.Eva (Morton) experiences both ends of an obsessive love relationship. She has been dreaming of her glamorous-seeming second cousin Joseph Lees (Rupert Graves in a fine performance) since a girlhood visit. A neighboring young pig farmer (Lee Ross)adores Eva; his attentions are charming but uninvited.I had truly never heard of this film when it came on TV late one night - and was delighted that I stayed up late to see it through to the end. I recommend you seek it out to do the same.Beautiful cinematography in a quiet film, written and directed with a restrained, well-modulated hand.

Sepia-toned, understated, Hardyesque - Dreaming of Joseph Lees is one of those rare, quiet films that hits with brute force. Its only serious fault is in a too-slim characterization of Harry - his desperation could and should have been a little more fleshed out. We're only given glimpses into the reasons behind his crippling dependency on Eva. Apparently lots of folks feel that Joseph Lees suffers from a similar near-transparency, but his character is what it must be - he has always been a romanticized ideal for Eva. And his fleshing out in her eyes, is present, but also patient, as it must be.Near the end of the film, Morton turns in some of the best acting I've seen in years in a scene in which her Eva finds herself just inside the front door, literally caught between Harry (further inside the house) and Joseph (just outside the door). Rarely has heartbreak ever been so beautifully rendered in a performance as it is here.It's a crying shame that this film has yet to find its audience.