One should also take into consideration that normal practice for the time being portrayed was for the husband to be considerably older than the wife. Centuries later it got worse, where the girl had her debut at 17 or 18, and had a couple years to make a match; failing that she would get shipped off to India for a couple years to see if she could make a match with someone in the Company, Army or Navy there. After that, at around age 21, she would likely not ever get married.
Shoot me for sounding shallow, but Lysette Anthony is at the height of her beauty in this film, and I'll admit to being dazzled enough to last a lifetime.
As for her apparant shallowness, that is likely mostly due to the expectations and limitations still on her until she gets married. I'm writing an historical fiction/ romance novel that has some similarities. Upon marraige, she actually had a huge amount of responsibilities, which can be significantly expanded either with encouragement of her husband or his lack of discouragement. There are a number of cases from late medieval times where the wife organized and led an "army" (armed force of retainers) to spring a captured husband loose.
Rowena could well be hiding her cleverness from others, as such a trait becoming known would be very detrimental to her possibilities.
I'm not saying that Olivia Hussy isn't also beautiful, but as opposed to Lysette's 17 or 18 when filming, Olivia is 30 or 31. That's just a very different age bracket, doubly so in the period being protrayed.
Sorry, but even with my general preference with brunettes, Rowena is just too stunning in this movie to not be the focus of my attention. Plus I'm a one woman kind of guy, and so I wouldn't be distracted from my long-time love.
Steve
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