Wide Sargasso Sea | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

65% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings

In the wake of Jamaican emancipation, French colonist Annette Cosway (Rachel Ward) falls into poverty and marries racist Englishman Paul Mason (Michael York). But when Annette's young son dies in a fire started by former slaves, Mason flees to England, leaving his grief-stricken wife and her Creole daughter Antoinette (Karina Lombard) behind. Soon Antoinette learns she must marry to claim her inheritance and sets her sights on Rochester (Nathaniel Parker), an Englishman eerily similar to Mason.

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Wide Sargasso Sea

Critics Reviews

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Wide Sargasso Sea | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: B+ Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Wide Sargasso Sea | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Lawrence Cohn Variety An uneven but ultimately engrossing feature. Mar 26, 2009 Full Review Wide Sargasso Sea | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Time Out A strange, dark, muddled dream of a movie, occasionally risible but rarely boring. Jan 26, 2006 Full Review Wide Sargasso Sea | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Brian D. Johnson Maclean's Magazine Lombard is weak in the central role. Although her character's mind is supposed to be at stake, it is hard to find much evidence of it behind her one-note performance. Oct 11, 2019 Full Review Wide Sargasso Sea | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Mark Amory The Spectator The film dies too, because we do not care about or understand Antoinette. Jul 24, 2018 Full Review Wide Sargasso Sea | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Malcolm Johnson Hartford Courant At its heart, Wide Sargasso Sea tells of the ruination of a marriage -- by the past, by the time, by the fears of a man and desperation of a woman. Yet Duigan also presents a searing vision of the effects of colonialism. May 31, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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FF S I enjoyed the movie more than I expected to. While the acting was not outstanding, the film captured the Caribbean extraordinarily well. And the story is a wonderful bookend to Jane Eyre. I am glad that I saw it. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/20/24 Full Review Audience Member A sad and tragic story based on a character in Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre during mid-19th Century Jamaica. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member This version was even more sad than the remake. What a horrible thing to be loved and then cast aside for no good reason. Rochester did Antoinette wrong, plain and simple. He took the light out of her eyes, he stole her very spirit. It was soul-crushing to watch the shell of a person he turned her into. A very sad movie indeed. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member I was attracted to the movie as I recently learned about what and where the Sargasso Sea is. There is not much to learn watching this movie however. Well perhaps you learn not to be born in the mid 17th century, and to treat your slaves with a little compassion. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member I saw this pretentious adaptation of John Rhys' novel years ago, and then caught it again on cable. What a waste of talent! The tropical setting supposedly mirrors the inner passions of the characters...Obvious, dreary, and heavy going from the word go... Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member I saw it again (5 years later or so) and it was ok Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Wide Sargasso Sea

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Cast & Crew

John Duigan Director Karina Lombard Antoinette Cosway Nathaniel Parker Edward Rochester Rachel Ward Annette Cosway Michael York Paul Mason Martine Beswick Aunt Cora
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Wide Sargasso Sea

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Synopsis In the wake of Jamaican emancipation, French colonist Annette Cosway (Rachel Ward) falls into poverty and marries racist Englishman Paul Mason (Michael York). But when Annette's young son dies in a fire started by former slaves, Mason flees to England, leaving his grief-stricken wife and her Creole daughter Antoinette (Karina Lombard) behind. Soon Antoinette learns she must marry to claim her inheritance and sets her sights on Rochester (Nathaniel Parker), an Englishman eerily similar to Mason.

Director
John Duigan

Producer
Jan Sharp

Rating
R

Genre
Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 20, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.4M

Runtime
1h 36m

Sound Mix
Surround
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