Dreaming of Joseph Lees

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Dreaming of Joseph Lees ★★ 1999 (R)

Eva (Morton) has long had fantasies about her worldly older cousin Joseph Lees (Graves), but he's retreated from society after a terrible accident and lives in Italy. Meanwhile, lonely Eva is stuck in boring rural England in 1958. So she's willing to respond to the romantic gestures of working-class Harry Flyte (Ross) and, shockingly, decides to move in with him. Then Eva re-meets Joseph at a family wedding and, perversely, her desire for him only increases, which leads Harry to desperate measures. Strained symbolism pushes the plot but the accomplished performances take up the slack. 92m/C VHS . GB Rupert Graves, Sa-mantha Morton, Lee Ross, Miriam Margolyes, Frank Finlay, Nicholas Woodeson, Holly Aird; D: Eric Styles; W: Catherine Linstrum; C: Jimmy Dibling; M: Zbigniew Preisner.