Christine (Joely Richardson) and Lea (Jodhi May) are sisters who were separated at a young age. Through Christine's clever machinations, they have been reunited by working as maids for a very proper lady and her bored and restless daughter. When the already passionate bond between the sisters becomes sexual, it sets up a series of events that lead to tragedy. Set in 1932 France, this film is supposedly based on a true story. Viewers looking for a sort of Playboy meets Merchant-Ivory romp will have to look elsewhere--the sex here is very discreet. Instead what we get is a nifty little piece of suspense and psychological horror that features taut direction, a smart script, spotless production values, and a topnotch cast. Julie Walters is marvelously funny--and scary--as the lady of the house who "sees everything" (but actually can't see beyond the tip of her nose), and Joely Richardson is heartbreaking as a seemingly self-reliant woman who is terrified of having her sister taken away again. --Geof Miller
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Sister My Sister DVD Review Comment: Sister My Sister is a very well-made and well-acted film; however, the DVD quality is below average in both picture and sound; that's why I've given it three stars. It's a shame that some companies ruin good films by producing substandard DVDs. The DVD is in 4:3 aspect ratio. Customer Rating: Summary: Well acted, quiet, in depth character study of Comment: how upper middle class that can afford servants, treated those servants. Yes, its only one household, but I can't imagine any of the masters being "kind" to lower end maids. Especially, this woman, who watched every move they made, even though she was paying them a pitance, she was lucky to get 2 for the price of 1, but she kept nit picking, and brow beating them anyway. Granted, these maids were not mentally stable, but who would be after years of abandonment, abuse, and lack of any affection. And the last encounter the was bound to happen, after all, how much could they take before snapping? Customer Rating: Summary: Not satisfied Comment: I'm sorry to put this review up, but my DVD was contain a documentary or some sort, so, I was wondering, it is normal or I'm being unlucky and got the one that is being mixed up
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Customer Rating: Summary: Finally...A Vehicle That Makes Housework Look Interesting Comment: This is the film that served as my belated introduction to France's Papin Sisters, Lea and Christine. When in their twenties, they viciously murdered their employer and her unfortunate daughter, while monsieur was away. "Sister My Sister", written by one Wendy Kesselman, leaves monsieur out, replaces the relatively unattractive Papins with two photogenic British actresses, and proceeds to be both ominously claustrophobic and extremely erotic--all despite, alas, both girls remaining clothed. Joely Richardson (daughter of Vanessa Redgrave) and a very young Jodhi May give monumental performances; and the chemistry between the two is quite extraordinary. Early on in the film, it becomes apparent that this is far from your run-of-the mill sisterly relationship, when, after a quarrel over their despotic and devisive mother, Lea and Christine begin acting conspicuously like lovers. As their incestuous (not to mention lesbian) romance blossoms, we become aquainted with The Danzards, a pathetic, utterly dysfuntional, co-dependent mother and daughter, who, in comparision, make their servants seem almost normal. They spend entirely too much time cooped up together in their gloomy, forebidding, rain-drenched home, with nothing better to do than play the piano (badly), engage in meaningless card games(meaningless except for the one intercut with the sisters making love upstairs), and pry into the comings and goings of the increasingly distracted Lea and Christine. (I simply couldn't regret their murders, except for the disaster they would end up bringing to our, uh, heroines.) Customer Rating: Summary: Cheap-Looking, Some Creepy Moments but Very Disappointing Comment: I wanted to like this movie. Originally, I looked at it like this. The premise sounded kind of creepy, so I'd probably like it for the plot...If not, I could always fall back on the lesbian scenes. After all, the cover of the film itself suggests that it contains that kind of content in abundance. I was wrong on both counts. The movie is only 85 minutes long, but it seems drawn out.
The plot is based on a true story and is about a maid named Christine (Joely Richardson), who brings her sister Lea (Jodhi May) to work with her in the house of Madame Danzard (Julie Walters) and her daughter Isabelle (Sophie Thursfield). Madame and Isabelle like the two sisters, they're quiet and rarely speak, except to each other. But the two sisters have a clear sexual tension with each other, which soon leads to a lesbian/incestual love affair...And murder. The acting here is excellent; Standouts were Walters and Richardson, but all of it is great. The picture-quality of the DVD is kind of shoddy, or it might haaave just been the cinematography. The biggest problem with the plot is that, when it comes down to it, you don't really care.
You don't like Madame and Isabelle and Lea & Christine tend to come off as pathetic and, obviously, mentally disturbed. There's no nudity in the film, which is an obvious attempt not to sensationalize their affair. Some people have called the movie haunting. Most of the early scenes are not, the ending is...It's haunting, but it's also over-the-top. If a psychiatrist were to sum up the film, it would be something along the lines of: Two mentally disturbed sisters harboring an incestual love for each other, begin having sexual relations in the house of their employers...Two mean and nasty mother and daughter rich women. If that sounds interesting, go for it...But most of the scenes in the film just seem like an excuse to come to the big finale. It's not a terrible film. It has its good moments and its bad moments (like all films). The bad moments can't even really be defined that way. It's got a lot of boring, dull moments though.
