John Duigan's film version of the Jean Rhys novel, something of a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, is an extraordinarily atmospheric visualization of the decline of a marriage. The plot explores the first marriage of Jane Eyre's, Mr. Rochester (Nathaniel Parker), from the first blush of romance with beautiful Jamaican plantation heiress Antoinette Cosway (Karina Lombard) to the disintegration of the union at the hands of a cruelly autocratic husband. Although the characterization is sketchy, Duigan uses the steamy climate to bring the neo-Gothic novel's eroticism to the foreground -- filling the screen with sweaty, entangled bodies. Along with the frank sexuality, there's also a layer of social comment on the issues of male dominance and the exploitation of black labor not usually associated with this genre. Yet, one comes away frustrated by the opacity of the characters, more memorable as naked bodies than naked souls. The film performed poorly in theaters, no doubt hurt by the NC-17 rating.