I watched this film on Amazon Prime on 16th July 2024. It was made in 2023 and starred Agnes O’Casey as Maud, David Wilmot as Silas, Chris Whalley as Edward, Holly Sturton as Emily and Grainne Keenan as Madame, the French governess. Mark Doherty played a sinister Dr Brierley and Kieron Roche was Captain Ilbury.
Maud has been orphaned. As her father’s heiress but still underage, her fortune and large estate is under the care of trustees while her father has appointed his brother Silas as her guardian. But Silas has a reputation: he was mixed up in a possible murder (involving a locked room mystery) but never charged.
Uncle Silas moves in with his children Edward and Emily and Emily’s governess, Madame. It soon becomes apparent that Silas intends that Edward shall marry Maud, thereby securing her inheritance. But she refuses. Edward rapes her and gets her pregnant and she still refuses. Silas enlists the cooperation of Dr Brierley to threaten her with being locked away in an asylum and ‘treated’ by having gallons of water poured over her. She maintains her refusal. Family secrets are exposed. The atmosphere becomes menacing.
It’s a classic nail-biter which I enjoyed though Styeph didn’t which probably explains its ambivalent rating of 6.3/10 on 1MdB; Rotten Tomatoes called it a highly recommended period drama” and scored it 100% on the Tomatometer (though based on only 9 reviews); the Guardian (4/5) described it as “insightful”. I couldn’t fault the acting or the set.
The story claims to be based on Uncle Silas, a best-selling novel written in 1864 by Sheridan Le Fanu, though there are also elements of his short novel The Murdered Cousin (1851). Obviously the rape scene is a modern addition.
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