Moll Flanders
Added 10/22/2009
What a pleasant surprise! I had never even heard of this movie but thought it looked like fun, based on earlier earlier movies of this genre, e.g., "Tom Jones." I'd also never seen Robin Wright Penn act before; she was mesmerising and the other leading character actors, Morgan Freeman and Stockard Channing were wonderful.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys period films.
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Not the real story but reely good
Added 8/12/2009
This version of Moll Flanders takes great liberties with the novel. The plot is wildly different and set a generation later. Instead trapping many lovers while fortune hunting, Moll is forced into prostitution only to be redeemed by an artist.Nevertheless, it is a moving story.
Morgan Freeman is wonderful as the narrator. Robin Wright is charming but not as cunning as Moll should be. Stockard Channing is a force to be reckoned with as Mrs. Allworthy the high-class madam.
All in all a worthwile viewing if only for the sets and costumes.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Solid compelling enjoyable
Added 4/13/2009
I don't often watch was is an undoubtedly a feminist film. I found the story sad yet i could not look away. Morgan Freeman is a wonderful actor and portrays his character in a most sympathetic way. I can see myself watching this again in the future.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Closer to a Female Oliver Twist than to Defoe's Book
Added 3/30/2009
I was about halfway through Pen Densham's "Moll Flanders" when I realized the film I was watching was closer to a variation of Dicken's Oliver Twist with a female "Oliver" than to a story based on Daniel Dafoe's novel.
I decided to try to enjoy the film on its own merit, and I didn't hate it. Faint praise, I know, but I like period costume dramas with great production values and skilled performers, so I was mentally comparing this film to productions such as the recent series of Jane Austin based works, and this does not compare well to Emma, Pride and Prejudice -(A&E, 1996) and Sense & Sensibility (Special Edition).
Moll has an Oliver-like pauper's birth, delivered by a woman who is saved from the gallows only for the duration of her pregnancy and hanged a few hours later. Instead of a pitiless Dickens orphanage, Moll grows up in a nunnery where she is fondled by priests, and beaten by nuns after attacking a priest who gropes Moll in confession. Tossed into the cruel streets Moll is taken in by a female Fagin stand-in, Mrs. Allworthy, proprietress of a bordello which counts politicians and clergy amongst its clientele.
Moll is portrayed by Robin Wright, and there's more of Forrest Gump's Jenny in her performance than in her portrayal of Princess Buttercup. Moll is more than the clichéd prostitute with a heart of gold. She tries to maintain some degree of personal integrity and justice, and she's the kind of woman who will take a beating to protect a friend.
Mrs. Allworthy is portrayed by Stockard Channing, and she makes the character a believable upper crust madam, able to move amongst the politically mighty, but also knowing why men visit her establishment.
Moll is given food and shelter, but she sinks lower in self esteem in her work. Arriving at the house a virgin, Mrs. Allworthy auctions Moll's virtue for a small fortune. Not long after a man arrives wanting to buy time with the least expensive woman available. Mrs. Allworthy charges half a crown for Moll, then chides them both, doubting that Moll will give the man his money's worth.
The man is a painter, played by John Lynch, and he wants a real live woman not for sex, but to paint and learn more about anatomy. This begins a new era in Moll's life.
Until the Hollywood ending, the entire movie is told in Forrest Gump-like flashbacks, with Morgan Freeman reading to Moll's nine-year old daughter, played by Aisling Corcoran, from Moll's personal journal. Freeman carries a degree of authority and respect to the proceedings as Mr. Hibble. Moll initially meets Hibble where he is working for Mrs. Allworthy, and she gains his trust and devotion when she discovers him in an indelicate moment and takes punishment herself rather than betray his secret.
This film may have been more. But I was pretty satisfied with it as is.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Love this story
Added 3/17/2009
I saw this movie on tv one night not even from the beginning and the story in it was so moving that I had to buy it to finish it. It was like reading a good book. I don't usually watch a lot of tv but the few times I do, I saw this and was glad I did. Plus has great actors in it!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Moll Flanders
Added 10/22/2009
What a pleasant surprise! I had never even heard of this movie but thought it looked like fun, based on earlier earlier movies of this genre, e.g., "Tom Jones." I'd also never seen Robin Wright Penn act before; she was mesmerising and the other leading character actors, Morgan Freeman and Stockard Channing were wonderful.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys period films.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Not the real story but reely good
Added 8/12/2009
This version of Moll Flanders takes great liberties with the novel. The plot is wildly different and set a generation later. Instead trapping many lovers while fortune hunting, Moll is forced into prostitution only to be redeemed by an artist.Nevertheless, it is a moving story.
Morgan Freeman is wonderful as the narrator. Robin Wright is charming but not as cunning as Moll should be. Stockard Channing is a force to be reckoned with as Mrs. Allworthy the high-class madam.
All in all a worthwile viewing if only for the sets and costumes.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Solid compelling enjoyable
Added 4/13/2009
I don't often watch was is an undoubtedly a feminist film. I found the story sad yet i could not look away. Morgan Freeman is a wonderful actor and portrays his character in a most sympathetic way. I can see myself watching this again in the future.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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