Dreaming of Joseph Lees is a 1999 British romantic drama film directed by Eric Styles and starring Rupert Graves, Samantha Morton and Nicholas Woodeson. It is an adaptation of a story written by Catherine Linstrum set in rural England in the late 1950s. The film was distributed by the Fox Entertainment Group. Samantha Morton's performance in the film won the Evening Standard Award British Film Award for Best Actress.
Set in rural England in the 1950s Eva (Samantha Morton) fantasises about her handsome, worldly cousin Joseph Lees (Rupert Graves), with whom she fell in love as a girl. However, stuck in a closed community she becomes the object of someone else's fantasy, Harry (Lee Ross). When Harry learns that Eva is planning to leave the village in order to live with and look after the injured Lees, he devises a gruesome scheme in order to force her to stay and look after him.
FILM REVIEW; A Love Triangle Ignited By What Might Have Been
Though Samantha Morton proved herself a raw, electrifying actress in ''Under the Skin,'' she now turns up in the kind of tremulously carnal shy-flower role that once would have been played by Sarah Miles. ''Dreaming of Joseph Lees'' casts her as a prim-looking spinster who works at a sawmill and sends a lusty pig farmer named Harry (Lee Ross) in pursuit of her. Harry courts Eva (Ms. Morton) so unabashedly that he makes her blush, which is to say that he gets her attention. Harry's sister teases Eva about this, claiming that Eva is ''lookin' at him like he was burnin' you from the inside out.''
''Dreaming of Joseph Lees'' is set in 1958, when such thoughts qualify as dangerously naughty. And it is shot on the Isle of Man, where lonely, rugged panoramas replete with stone, mud and timber create rebellion-ready mood. So Eva is eventually tempted to flee the household of her stern, disapproving father and move to Harry's house. But as the title suggests, Eva yearns for something more.
Specifically, she thinks about her distant cousin, a geologist who lost a leg while working in an Italian quarry. (The sawmill's way of cutting logs may be an unfortunate metaphor.) She has not seen him since she was a 14-year-old with a schoolgirl crush. Then, at a family wedding, Joseph Lees shows up in the form of Rupert Graves and looks not at all the worse for wear. Unfortunately Joseph is not an option, now that Harry is on the scene.
But Joseph, who sends his cousin books about Italian art, has an undeniable effect on her. ''You and me, my darling, are made for love!'' exclaims Harry, only to have Eva snap ''You and I, Harry.'' Eventually, she and the handsome geologist wind up entwined together, talking about the earth's crust and other matters that are beyond Harry. And Harry begins behaving differently, as if the screenplay (by Catherine Linstrum) had flipped a switch.
As directed by Eric Styles, this earnest first feature pays careful attention to drably authentic details (Harry's sweaters have moth holes) and tells its glumly bodice-ripping tale with somber sensitivity. Ms. Morton succeeds in seeming volatile and alive even when the material is all too strained. Not content with metaphorical import, the sawmill also becomes part of a suicide attempt near the film's shrilly contrived ending. The screenplay asks viewers to believe that a character would willingly get in the way of a whirring blade.
''Dreaming of Joseph Lees'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes sexual situations and implicit gore.
Directed by Eric Styles; written by Catherine Linstrum; director of photography, Jimmy Dibling; edited by Caroline Limmer; music by Zbigniew Preisner; production designer, Humphrey Jaeger; produced by Christopher Milburn; released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. At the U.A. Union Square 14, 13th Street at Broadway. Running time: 92 minutes. This film is rated R.
WITH: Rupert Graves (Joseph Lees), Samantha Morton (Eva) and Lee Ross (Harry).
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