Review of The French Lieutenant's Woman

I wish I liked this movie more. I admire what it's trying to do in the contrast between the movie within the movie and the "real world," creating contrasts between both the Victorian era and the late 20th century, and fiction versus reality. Unfortunately, the meta element is so underdeveloped that it feels trivial, and the period story suffers from dwindling intrigue. By the last 30 minutes, I was ready for the whole thing to end. It only avoids being a bore because of the strong acting and gorgeous visuals. Otherwise, it's interesting largely by virtue of its inspired premise-- in my estimation, it's largely a failure, though at the very least it's an ambitious one.