Original Sin

Plot synopsis:
Original Sin is set in the late 19th century Cuba during the Spanish rule, and flashes back and forth from the scene of a woman awaiting her execution by garrote while telling her story to a priest, to the actual events of that story.
Luis Vargas (Antonio Banderas) sends for American Julia Russell (Angelina Jolie) from Delaware to sail to his country Cuba to be his mail-order bride. Julia alights from the ship, looking nothing like the photos she had sent prior to her voyage. Julia explains she wants more than a man who is only interested in a pretty face and that is why she has been deceptive—substituting a plain-looking woman's photo in place of her own picture. Luis also admits to a deception; he has been misleading her into believing that he is a poor clerk in a coffee export house, instead of being the rich owner of that coffee export house. On hearing this, Julia says that they both have something in common and that is that both are not to be trusted. But they assure each other that they would make efforts in understanding and trusting each other in life.
Luis and Julia wed in the church within hours of her setting foot in Cuba. Luis falls passionately in love with his new wife. They passionately make love.
Meanwhile, Julia's sister Emily has been trying to contact her, worried about her after such a long trip to a strange land. She sends an emotional letter to Julia asking about her welfare. Luis forces Julia to write back, fearing that if Julia continues to ignore Emily's letters, Emily will assume something terrible has befallen her sister and she might send the authorities to check on her welfare. Holding off as long as possible, Julia finally pens a letter to her sister.
In order to assure that his wife has everything she wants, Luis adds Julia to his business and personal bank accounts, giving her free rein to spend as she pleases. Luis discovers that Julia has run off with nearly all of his fortune and then teams up with a detective, Walter Downs (Thomas Jane), hired by Emily to find her real sister Julia. Walter arrived from Wilmington and tells Luis that he would like to see Julia on the coming Sunday. Luis informs Julia about this and she gets upset. Emily arrives in Cuba and meets Luis and shows the letter Julia wrote to her. She informs Luis that he believes Julia to be an impostor and that her sister Julia may be dead and that the impostor may be working with someone. The two set out together looking for her.
Luis finds Julia and discovers she is actually working with Walter and that he and Luis are staying at the same hotel. Luis believes she loves him and lies to Walter, but, when confronted, a fight breaks out and Luis shoots Walter. Julia coldly tells Luis to go and buy them tickets home, but the minute he leaves, Walter gets to his feet; he had loaded the gun with blanks. Julia appears to love Luis, but, Walter has too much control over her, so, she continues to work for him as she and Luis run off to live in secret with the supposedly dead Walter in pursuit. Walter turns out to be Julia (Bonny's) old lover and partner Billy.
Luis throws away his promising future and opens himself to living a lie with Julia. One night, Luis follows Julia/Bonny and discovers Walter/ Billy is alive and that the two are still working together; she is apparently going to poison her husband that very night. He returns home and waits for her and when she arrives, he reveals that he knows about the plan, confesses his love for her once more and swallows the poisoned drink Though she tries hard to stop him. Julia flees with the dying Luis, with Walter close behind. They run into him at a train station; Walter is furious that Julia has betrayed him. As Walter holds a knife to her throat, Luis shoots and wounds him, with Julia finishing him off by shooting.
Back in the mise en scene, Julia finishes her story and asks the priest to pray with her. The next morning the guards come to her cell to take her to her execution, only to find the priest kneeling in her clothing.
In Morocco, Julia is watching a card game. She walks around the table occupied by gamblers—including Luis—and thanks them for allowing her to watch. As Julia signals Luis about the other players' cards, he begins telling them the story of how they got there.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
No shtick, Sherlock..
"Original Sin" is an almost 3 hour British t.v. miniseries "old school" mystery which centers on a murder at a waterfront publishing firm, numerous clues, and equally numerous suspects with the inscrutable Commander Dalgliesh (Marsden) and his trusty sidekicks hot on the trail.
A rather convoluted mess of a story which is not particularly engaging given its length, viewers may find the conclusion to be too little too late.
Recommended for those who have viewed the other films in this series, preferably in chronological order.
Those unfamiliar with P.D. James' novels or this series of films should begin with the oldest first and work forward from there.
The DVD I watched had no subtitles or CC and I did have some trouble with the audio and the dialects.
Good but not the best Mystery Series.
The story is interesting and educated with some good character development.
My biggest disappointment is weak development of the lead detective.
What saved the detective investigation aspect of the film was his two assistants.It could be they intended the film to focus on the employees of the publishing house.
All of which were suspects.
It's worth watching but if you are new to the Mystery Series I suggest Prime Suspect, Touching Evil and Heat of the Sun..
'Original Sin' is a complicated story of murders at a prominent publishing house in London..
The novel 'Original Sin' is perhaps P.
D. James' longest and richest book.
Its many characters are fully and interestingly developed.
Even the murderer is a fairly sympathetic figure.
The book has multiple interesting narrative strands.
It cannot be praised too highly.
The film, by contrast, is AWFUL.
It should have been at least 4 hours long in order to do the complicated narrative justice.
The casting is poor, and the acting for the most part is wooden.
In the book, Frances Peverell and James de Witt are attractive young people.
In the film, they are middle aged and are considerably less attractive than in the book.
Roy Marsden's acting is uninspired, as is that of the actress who plays Kate Miskin.
The murderer is a more stalwart figure in the film than in the book, which makes him less sympathetic in the film.The themes of war and racism that one reviewer dislikes are central to the book.
Without giving too much away, I will merely remark that the roots of the murders go back to World War II and that the alleged racism is connected to the horrors of the Holocaust.
The young Jewish man on Dalgliesh's team understands the motives for the murders and as a result understands what the murderer was trying to do.
Finally, the excellent ending of the novel is cheapened by the different, sensationalized conclusion in the film.
All in all, I'd say read the book, and don't bother with the DVD..
Wait a minute....
[Vague spoiler]I just finished watching this on PBS, which has been showing it as a repeat.
I was kind of disappointed with the direction it took in part three, when it chose to examine heavy themes of war and racism rather than provide an involving mystery and the appropriate clues.
The lack of such nuts and bolts of a good mystery gives the show the tone of a bland TV drama on commercial television.
The build-up of the previous episodes regarding the theme of original sin and sins of the fathers was promising, with the stuffed snake toy suggesting intriguing possibilities.
But the third part takes this theme to a melodramatic letdown of an explanation.But what I'm most disappointed with is the absence of a climactic revelation, in which the detective pieces together how things really happened and explains it to other characters (and thus to the audience as well).
In mystery shows of this sort, flashback is often used, and it's fun to watch and see what took place and how.
Not only did this episode dispense with flashbacks, but also with any sort of explanation, period.
Not even a denouement to wrap up loose ends.
Apparently the filmmakers didn't want to bother, and instead thought that the histrionics involving the killer's suicide would leave viewers satisfied.A fatal decision, since they left behind a giant plot hole --- the killer actually had an alibi for the second murder!
The person who turns out to be the killer tells the police that he/she was at a public institution at the time the victim was being strangled and dumped in the river.
This story is then verified for the police by other nameless witnesses off screen, a common device in murder stories meant to erase any doubt about the character whatsoever.
But there is no attempt made to account for this alibi, no revelation that a witness was lying, mistaken, etc.
We are left confused, with the knowledge that the character had an alibi and couldn't be the culprit, yet did indeed commit the crime somehow.
Very sloppy on the part of the filmmakers..
Remarkably poor.
Perhaps because so many good English mysteries come to America, we're used to seeing some terrific stories with great acting, directing, and story lines.
This is a rather strangely bad piece of work.
Roy Marsden plays Inspector Dalgliesh as a somewhat nasty and whiny man; the rest of the characters are all extremely unpleasant, and the one good person in the story ends up making a completely inexplicable decision at the end of the interminably long show (the other police sidekick is a terrible actress who seems to only be able to squint and wheeze at the camera).
The writing is very poor quality, with constant speeches explaining what characters are doing or what they should be doing, and the direction is bafflingly amateurish.
All in all, given that the people involved, including PD James, are for the most part talented professionals who have done far better work, this seems as though it were put together in a few weeks and then thrown onto television.
Just not up to the standards of a Foyle, a Morse, a Lynley, etc.