Film

The Dark Angel

Director

Peter Hammond

Year

1987

The Dark Angel is a sensual and stylish adaptation of Uncle Silas - Sheridan le Fanu’s influential Victorian literary masterpiece. Sheltered heiress Maud Ruthyn's troubles begin when her father hires a new governess. Madame De La Rougierre (played with considerable relish by Jane Lapotaire) is a cruel, brandy-swigging schemer with an unhealthy interest in Maud's inheritance and an approach to childcare that would make Mary Poppins faint. When Maud's father dies she has no choice but to live with her wicked uncle Silas, who will inherit the family fortune if Maud should happen to die. This is not a recipe for domestic bliss and soon it seems that everyone but Maud is either bad, mad, or both.