Editorial Review:

Product Description:
A frontiersman returns to the australian highlands to claim the girl he left behind but discovers he has made a few enemies. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 04/05/2005 Starring: Hugh Grant Elizabeth Hurley Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R

Confessions of the Creature

I had a dream, which was not all a dream,
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went--and came and brought no day...

"Rowing With The Wind" begins with Hugh Grant's voice-over reading of the first lines of Byron's poem "Darkness," which was written in Geneva during the summer of 1816 when he met the Shelleys. An arctic scene reminiscent of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" follows this introduction. Mary begins the narrative aboard a small ship in a frozen sea; she scratches her memoir on paper with an inkless pen while Vaughn Williams' haunting and evocative "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" plays in the background.

The film, which depicts the meeting of the poets at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva, and subseqent personal tragedy, mixes fact with fantasy, the real with the surreal. The creature from Mary's "Frankenstein" enters the film as a harbinger of death, born of the inner darkness described in both her novel and Byron's poem. The acting is superb, the writing intelligent and darkly humorous, the scenes of Switzerland and Venice beautiful and compelling. The musical score is a treat for classical music lovers; in addition to Vaughn Williams, there are selections from Grieg, Beethoven, Mozart and other 18th and 19th century composers.

There are two other films that deal with similiar subject matter released about the same time (mid to late 1980s)-- "Gothic" and "Haunted Summer." In my opinion, Ken Russell's version is too over the top and psychedelic. I much prefer "Haunted Summer," but of the three I think "Rowing With The Wind" is the best. The subject is of special interest to me, because my novel, "Confessions of the Creature" was inspired by Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," and includes Mary, Byron, Shelley and Polidori as characters.

Average Rating:

Rating: - A Dream, Which Was Not All A Dream
Confessions of the Creature

I had a dream, which was not all a dream,
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went--and came and brought no day...

"Rowing With The Wind" begins with Hugh Grant's voice-over reading of the first lines of Byron's poem "Darkness," which was written in Geneva during the summer of 1816 when he met the Shelleys. An arctic scene reminiscent of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" follows this introduction. Mary begins the narrative aboard a small ship in a frozen sea; she scratches her memoir on paper with an inkless pen while Vaughn Williams' haunting and evocative "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" plays in the background.

The film, which depicts the meeting of the poets at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva, and subseqent personal tragedy, mixes fact with fantasy, the real with the surreal. The creature from Mary's "Frankenstein" enters the film as a harbinger of death, born of the inner darkness described in both her novel and Byron's poem. The acting is superb, the writing intelligent and darkly humorous, the scenes of Switzerland and Venice beautiful and compelling. The musical score is a treat for classical music lovers; in addition to Vaughn Williams, there are selections from Grieg, Beethoven, Mozart and other 18th and 19th century composers.

There are two other films that deal with similiar subject matter released about the same time (mid to late 1980s)-- "Gothic" and "Haunted Summer." In my opinion, Ken Russell's version is too over the top and psychedelic. I much prefer "Haunted Summer," but of the three I think "Rowing With The Wind" is the best. The subject is of special interest to me, because my novel, "Confessions of the Creature" was inspired by Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," and includes Mary, Byron, Shelley and Polidori as characters.

Rating: - Byron & Shelley
The first time I saw this movie, I loved the way that fantasy and reality collide; how Frankenstein monster changes the lives of the Byron and Shelley. I love the characters mainly because of their flaws, mainly Byron's debauchery and Shelley's insecurities.

The photography is beautiful and the actors make a good job.

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Rating: - Much than what this movie is known for.
This movie is based on actual historical events revolving around four individuals in the early 1800's, in several European locations. Three of the four main characters are famous British writers or poets. The main character in the movie is Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Mary Shelley had a life plagued with the loss of loved ones. The movie follows a portion of her life and highlights the loss of those that are close to her. The deaths she is surrounded by are brought to light through dialogue in the film. At one point Lord Byron, who is played by Hugh Grant challenges everyone to write a story, which is also based on an actual event. At this time Mary Shelley writes her famous work Frankenstein. As she is losing her loved ones throughout the movie her guilt and loss is manifested into the monster she has created. She blames herself for the loss of those around her which is also manifested into the monster she has created. We see the monster throughout the movie, but it is very easy to miss why the monster is there. The monster never interferes causing the deaths, though in one instance it looks like the monster causes a death mimicking a part of her Frankenstein novel. All the characters in the movie actually died in the manner portrayed in the film. If you have a historical knowledge of the main characters there should be nothing in this movie that catches you by suprise. The number of actual characters in this movie are limited and mainly focus on the four main characters and their ecentricities. The cinemetagraphy in this film is excellent. The movie was made to appeal to the visual senses. The film takes place with scenic and colorful backgrounds in Geneva and Venice. The costumes worn by the actors are rich and lavish and add to the scenic backgrounds. The dialogue in this movie is sharp and witty. All the actors in the movie would fall under the category of "eye candy". Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley are younger in this movie which appears to have been filmed before they established any fame in the US. If you did not know that Elizabeth Hurley had a role in this movie it might take you a while to recognize her. This is a European movie filmed in English. The film was well shot and is not a B movie, however I did not give it five stars due to the transfer of this film over to DVD. There are flaws that should have been touched up in the transfer process onto DVD. These flaws are not easily noticeable throughout the majority of the film where the back grounds are darker colors. However it is very noticeable in the opening sequence which takes place aboard a ship in the artic. The flaws stand out against the white background. With the time and effort that was put into making and filming this movie one would think that it would get the proper attention when put onto DVD. This movie is much better than what it has garnered attention for. This movie has seemed to catch attention due to Elizabeth Hurleys later fame and the fact that her breasts are exposed for a few seconds in this film. This European film uses the characters as part of the scenery and exposes three of the four main characters throughout the film, which has both male and female nudity. This movie is not fast paced and has no action. The movie depends on its dialogue which is delivered very well by all of the main characters. Bottom line here is that this is not a horror film with action scenes. It is well worth the time spent to view it.

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Rating: - Hisotrically Inaccurate But Highly Entertaining
There are three movies that focus on the life and times of Mary Shelley which I have seen to date. They are Rowing With The Wind, Haunted Summer, and Gothic. Of these, only Haunted Summer comes close to being truly accuate to what really happened. Nevertheless, despite the many innacuracies in this particular film, such as Dr Polidori dying in Switzerland five years earlier than he really did and in the wrong country, this is a very enjoyable piece of work. I've always loved the story of "the Romantics", and this film endevours to tell the story of Mary Shelley from the time she leaves England with Percey and Claire to events after Byron's death. While it was important to me to know the truth about everything that really happened, my vivid imagination enjoys films like this that take liberty with the truth, which is also why I enjoyed Gothic. However, Haunted Summer was equally enjoyable, which I suppose means that in the case of our Romantic heroes, their story as it really happened suffices as sheer entertainment. I gave this film four stars, denying it a fifth soley because of the historical innacuracies.

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Rating: - I actually enjoyed it.
I bought this DVD out of sheer curiosity. The write-up on its cover shamelessly and ridiculously exploits the "Sexy Hugh Grant and seductive Elizabeth Hurley" thing, attempting to ride the coattails of their later fame more than fifteen years after it was filmed. It cheapens the movie, in my opinion, and was half the reason I popped it into the DVD player not really expecting much. I was truly surprised, though, to find myself enjoying the humor and, most of all, intrigued and even moved by the story.

Don't get me wrong; it's definitely not factually accurate, and it is a perfect example of what Hugh Grant hilariously refers to as "Euro-pudding." However, it has its certain charms. Actually, I have found myself rewatching it on a few occasions because, as someone with some basic familiarity with literature of that era, the story stuck with me much more than I would have expected. I had to read up on Byron and the Shelleys, and then I rewatched it so it would make a little more sense to me, and what I really came to appreciate had less to do with factual depiction of events (and seriously, it's a movie about a fictional monster wreaking havoc on the life of its creator, so I wasn't expecting fact) but more to do with a very personal look at some larger-than-life characters. As someone below mentioned, Hugh Grant gives Byron an unexpected humanity, and Mary Shelley's sadness seeps through the self-appointed drama of the film to touch any viewer who has the slightest sympathy for the very tragic life she lived. It is an interesting concept to use her greatest achievement, Frankenstein, as a symbol of the misery she endured. She believes in the movie that she has brought life to imagination and ruined the lives of everyone she loves, but the omniscient viewer is haunted more by the idea that the horrors of her imagination were driven by the very real tragedies of her life.

My perspective on Rowing With the Wind boils down to that, a sympathy for these incredibly talented and incredibly sad people, and an appreciation for a film that in some way succeeds in humanizing their experience at the most tumultuous time of their lives. It is crazy - and probably intentionally so, as you are inside the reflections of a woman who was no stranger to psychological suffering. My advice is to take it with a grain of salt and maybe you will also be pleasantly surprised.

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