Princess Kaiulani and Miss Barnes/Mrs. Connelly

One dramatic scene is not well played out but I don't blame the actresses. I blame the director.

There is supposed to be a very emotionally moving scene where Princess Kaiulani wordlessly forgives her former, mean-spirited Miss Barnes, who later became Mrs. Connelly but that wasn't explained. The scene was supposed to depict the gentle, affectionate, and passionate spirit of Kaiulani, who reputedly didn't have a single mean bone in her body and held no meaness or grudge towards anyone, according to Hawaiian history.

But the scene is poorly crafted by the director and it's confusion detracts from the spirit and message of the moment, Kaiulani's message of forgiveness.

While enjoying a snack, tea and company of her best friend in the cooks' kitchen table, on a typical, gloomy, rainy, and cold English afternoon, Miss Barnes shows up at the kitchen side door, drenched wet. She's now a Mrs. Connelly but recently widowed, which explains her black clothing. More, the young woman is unemployed and desperately seeking employment. Late 19th century England had no social welfare or unemployment benefits as today. If you became unemployed, you were screwed. You didn't eat and you quickly became homeless. Hence, the desperation of Mrs. Connelly is really understandable and the humiliation in her face palpable as she has to confront the two young women who put up with the former Miss Barnes' bad side in school.

If the director was going to go in this direction, he should have finished out the scene because I'm sure that I'm not the only viewer who wondered what became of Mrs. Connally in that scene.