This 1993 adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, The Secret Garden, by director Agnieszka Holland is a sheer delight. You always hold your breath when you see someone has attempted to bring a classic novel to the screen. The film maker either tries to be too reverential, and ends up making a lifeless movie. Or, heaven forbid, they go off on their own wild tangent, giving some interpretation that follows current academic fashions of what the novel is ‘really’ all about.
Polish director Agnieszka Holland thankfully avoids this. Instead she creates something that is faithful to the novel, yet also an original work of art in itself.
Screenwriter Caroline Thompson also does a good job of distilling the novel’s essence down into an absorbing 100 minute film entertainment, while cinematographers Roger Deakins and Jerzy Zielinski help Holland to realise a visually rich palette, with its often breathtaking detail.
This was one of Mr Pinky’s favourite aspects of the film: it is full of visual surprises and delights. As the novel’s theme is about the restorative powers of nature and imagination, it seems only fitting that the film should have a magical visual aesthetic.
As someone who has read and loved Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic, I fail to see how this film cold disappoint its many legions of devotees.
P:)
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