Synopsis
After a childhood of abuse by his evangelistic father, misfit Oscar Hopkins becomes an Anglican minister and develops a divine obsession with gambling. Lucinda Leplastrier is a rich Australian heiress shopping in London for materials for her newly acquired glass factory back home. Deciding to travel to Australia as a missionary, Oscar meets Lucinda aboard ship, and a mutual obsession blossoms. They make a wager that will alter each of their destinies.
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Cast
- Ralph FiennesOscar Hopkins
- Cate BlanchettLucinda Leplastrier
- Ciarán HindsReverend Dennis Hasset
- Tom WilkinsonHugh Stratton
- Richard RoxburghMr. Jeffries
- Christian ManonMr. Tomasetti
- Clive RussellTheophilus
- Barnaby KayWardley-Fish
- Linda BassettBetty Stratton
- Geoffrey RushNarrator (voice)
Recommendations
- 90
The New York Times
As directed exquisitely by Gillian Armstrong in a headstrong spirit that recalls her debut feature, "My Brilliant Career," this elliptical tale makes up in visual beauty whatever it lacks in universal meaning. - 89
Austin Chronicle
Keeping with the spirit of its lead characters, Oscar and Lucinda is a movie best met with a gambler's faith: You may not be certain what it means in the end, but its magnificent payoff is nevertheless a sure thing. - 80
The A.V. Club
It accumulates weight as it goes along, ultimately becoming as thoughtful and emotionally involving as it is beautiful to behold. - 75
ReelViews
Despite some obvious overplotting, Oscar and Lucinda is a mostly effective and often affecting motion picture that touches our hearts while daring our minds to balk at its implausible coincidences. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Here there is a dry wit, generated between the well-balanced performances of Fiennes and Blanchett, who seem quietly delighted to be playing two such rich characters. - 75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
In a sometimes misguided narrative, their scenes together are right on track -- they add lightness, even a shimmering hint of humour, to a symbol-laden drama. Theirs is a unique romance that has a sparrow's frail beauty -- it beats with a trembling, fluttering heart. - 70
Salon
Whatever the reason, Oscar and Lucinda winds up feeling like a collection of bits in search of vision and an emotional surge. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
The film version is gorgeous to look at and contains amusing performances from Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett in the title roles. But it fails to get inside the minds of gamblers as Peter Carey so admirably did in his Booker Prize-winning novel.
