Phyllida Law

The story begins with Beatrix Potter (Rene Zellweger) nervously packing her portfolio and narrating that she is a London spinster, and that her ambition to become a children's author meets with wide disapproval. She and her chaperon, Miss Wiggin, visit the publishing house of the Warne brothers and they decide to publish her book. Beatrix is thrilled and returns home, not without taking a drive through the parks to celebrate first. However, it is revealed that the Warne brothers think her book is ridiculous and will no doubt be a failure. The only reason they agreed to publish her story is because they promised their youngest brother, Norman, a project. When Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor) arrives, Beatrix makes decisions about her finished book, regarding size, color and price. Norman admits he has never done anything like this before but has given her book a great deal of thought. Beatrix realizes what the Warne brothers have done regarding her and Norman, but they become determined to prove them wrong. Norman takes Beatrix to the printer, and she has her drawings reproduced and copies of her book sold. Thrilled, Beatrix and Norman visit the Warne family, where Beatrix meets the wheelchair-bound but lovely Mrs. Warne, and Norman's sister, Amelia, nicknamed "Millie". Millie has decided that she and Beatrix are going to be friends and is overjoyed that Beatrix is a spinster, as is Millie, who believes men to be nothing but bores. The family befriends Beatrix, yet Helen Potter, Beatrix's social-climbing mother, is unhappy about her daughter spending time in the company of tradesmen. When she returns home, Beatrix, and Helen bicker about Beatrix's stubborn decision not to marry. Beatrix reminds her mother of the book she wrote, and her mother retorts she believes the venture will fail. However, the book sales are very successful, and copies are displayed in many store windows. Even Beatrix's father, Rupert, buys a copy along with friends at the Reform Club. Encouraged by this success and her father's support, Beatrix invites Norman and Millie to her family's Christmas party, despite her mother's misgivings. At the party everyone enjoys themselves and Beatrix shows Norman a story she is writing especially for him, "The Rabbits' Christmas Party". She shows him a drawing from the story and shows him her studio where she writes and draws. Miss Wiggin falls asleep from too much brandy (a generous portion of which had been added to her coffee cup by Norman), and Norman plucks up the courage to propose to Beatrix. Mrs. Potter interrupts before Beatrix can reply, and they join the other guests in the drawing room. Beatrix confides in Millie about Norman proposing, and Millie encourages her to say yes. Beatrix then tells the guests of the stories she writes, and they are delighted and amused. Mrs. Potter, however, cannot see what all the fuss is about. As the guests leave, Beatrix whispers her agreement to marry Norman, who is overjoyed. Soon after, Rupert Potter invites Norman to his office and tells him his opinion of him. At the Potter household, Beatrix and her parents argue about her decision to marry Norman. Beatrix is adamant and will not be dissuaded. Mrs. Potter tells her no Potter can marry into trade, but Beatrix reminds her that her grandfathers were both tradesmen. When Mrs. Potter threatens to cut her daughter off, Beatrix reminds them of her brother, Bertram, who married a wine merchant's daughter and was not disowned. She states she can survive on her own with her novels. Mr. Potter attempts to reason with his daughter, but she tells him she wants to be loved and not simply marry someone because he can provide for her. Beatrix inquires with the bank about her royalty earnings, wondering if she would perhaps someday be able to buy a house in the country. She is amazed and delighted to learn that her book sales have made her wealthy enough to buy several estates and a house in town if she wishes. When she returns home her parents offer a proposition: that Beatrix keep her engagement to Norman a secret and vacation with them in the Lake District for the summer. If she still wishes to marry him at the end of the summer, they agree that they will not object to the marriage. Beatrix agrees to the proposition and is quite convinced that she will not change her mind, telling her parents to prepare for an October wedding. Norman and Beatrix kiss each other goodbye at the train station and write many letters during their time apart, until one day a letter arrives from his sister Millie, informing her that Norman is ill. Beatrix travels back to London only to find that Norman has died. Overcome with grief, Beatrix shuts herself up in her room. She turns to her drawing but discovers that her characters disappear off the page. Millie comes to visit and comfort her, and Beatrix decides she must leave the house. Beatrix buys a farm in the country in the Lake District and moves there to resume her work. She hires a farmhand to run the farm and finds comfort in her surroundings. With the help of her solicitor, William Heelis, she outbids developers at auctions and buys many other farms and land in the area to preserve nature. Eight years after moving to the Lake District she marries William. The land eventually forms part of the Lake District National Park in northwestern England.

Alex Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) is a scientist living in 1899 New York City. Obsessed with the idea of time travel, he teaches at Columbia University as a professor of "Applied Mechanics and Engineering" and gets into trouble for his radical theories. He is a pen pal of Albert Einstein. As he goes to the park to meet his girlfriend Emma, he becomes distracted by an early motor car beside the park gates. He puts himself in immediate good graces with the driver who, while refueling, forgot to activate the parking brake something Alexander does quickly when it threatens get out of control. Forgetting the flowers, he meets Emma at the skating rink; they walk through the park where Alexander proposes to Emma. However, the romantic moment is short-lived: a robber emerges from nearby bushes and holds a gun on them. As the thug attempts to take Emma's engagement ring, Alexander tries to intervene; during the struggle, the gun goes off and Emma is fatally wounded, dying in Alexander's arms. For the next four years, Alexander succeeds in building a working time machine. His oldest friend David Philby invites Alexander to dinner in the hope it would cause him to leave the lab and eventually return to a normal life, but Alexander postpones the dinner until the following week. With the time machine finished, he travels back to that night four years ago and intercepts Emma before she was destined to meet his 1899 counterpart. Escorting her away from the park, they walk back to her apartment where he leaves her out in the street to purchase some flowers. However, despite Alexander having removed her from the danger of the robber, Emma is knocked down and trampled by a horse and carriage outside. The horses were spooked by the early motor car. Alexander realizes bitterly that if he prevents one means of Emma's death, another will take its place. Disenchanted with the prospect, he decides to go forward in time to find out if there are any answers in the future. The time travel Alexander stops in 2030 and learns that the Moon is being prepared for colonization. He visits the New York Public Library where he talks with Vox 114, the library's holographic, artificially intelligent librarian. He is given information on H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison and even one of his own papers, but the library does not have any information on time travel theory; Vox states that such a thing is impossible. Finding nothing of use, Alexander moves on to the future, until he hits a 'bump' seven years later in 2037, where he finds that the Moon mining operation has disrupted the lunar orbit. As a result, the Moon is breaking apart and showering Earth with massive chunks of rock. He makes it into the machine just as the city is being destroyed but is knocked unconscious and fails to witness the destruction of civilization. Alexander and his time machine speed through hundreds of Millennia. Regaining consciousness, Alexander brings the machine to a halt in 802,701 AD and finds that civilization has devolved to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Calling themselves the Eloi, these survivors have built their homes into the side of a cliff on what resembles Manhattan. Alexander begins to develop a relationship with a woman named Mara, a teacher, and one of few who recall some of the Time Traveler's now obsolete language. He also realizes the Moon is now broken in pieces. As Alexander is introduced to Eloi society, he is shown a collection of stone fragments and signs from what was once New York, including a sign from Tiffany and Co, the Empire State Building and a section of tiled panels from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Subway Station. While Alex is inspecting the machine after seeing an Eloi memorial for their parents, Mara tells him to go back to his own time and take her younger brother Kalen with him. Suddenly, the Eloi are attacked by Morlocks, monstrous, pale, ape-like creatures that hunt the Eloi for food. The Morlocks capture Mara and carry her off. Trying to find out where she has been taken, Alexander is told that "the Ghost" might know. As it turns out, the Eloi are speaking about Vox 114, the holographic librarian that Alexander had talked to before the destruction of the Moon, who is still functioning after all these years. With Vox 114's help, Alexander finds a way into the underground realm of the Morlocks but is captured and taken to an underground chamber where Mara is kept in a cage, and where the Morlocks' leader, the Ãœber-Morlock (Jeremy Irons), is waiting. The Uber-Morlock reveals that they have a caste-like society, with each caste (nearly a different species in itself) fulfilling a different role in Morlock society. The ruling caste of this society are super-intelligent Telepaths, while the hunters that Alex has encountered so far were bred to be predators. Attempting to explain his actions, the Ãœber-Morlock reasons that he and his people are not evil. He asks "Who are you to question eight hundred thousand years... of evolution?" The Ãœber-Morlock then reveals the reason why Alexander cannot alter Emma's fate: he is caught in a temporal paradox. Since Emma's death was the prime factor that drove him to build the time machine, he cannot use the machine without her death being incorporated into the time-line, as otherwise he would have had no reason to build the machine in the first place. The Ãœber-Morlock also states that the Morlocks would not exist without those like Alexander in their quest for science and technology. Alexander learns that the Morlocks were people who chose to stay underground after the Moon collapsed and the Eloi were those who chose to brave the fallout. His time machine has been found by the Morlocks and taken underground. To escape, Alexander jumps into the machine and sends it hurtling forward in time, taking the Ãœber-Morlock with him. The two of them fight until Alexander pushes him outside of the time sphere. He watches as the Ãœber-Morlock ages and dies outside of the time bubble. Alexander slows the machine as the sky appears overhead. He has traveled to the year 635,427,810 AD, and the landscape is now a desolate wasteland, completely dominated by the Morlocks. Finally accepting that he can never save Emma, Alexander travels back in time to rescue the trapped Mara. After setting her free and before escaping, he sets the time machine to travel to the future and uses his pocket watch to jam the controls, causing it to malfunction and explode, creating a time distortion stream. Alexander and Mara escape just as the explosion kills off the Morlocks. Trapped in the future, Alexander resolves to build a new life for himself with Mara. He begins to rebuild civilization, Vox telling the Eloi the stories in his memory. This closing scene is shown side by side with a sequence in the year 1903, where David Philby chats with Alexander's elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Watchit, before leaving and throwing away his bowler hat on the street.

Anna (Marceau) is a wife and mother who has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky (Bean). Based on the novel by Tolstoy. Anna is a young and elegant wife of Mr. Karenin, who is wealthy and old. She meets the handsome Count Vronsky. Anna and Vronsky fall in love with each other, and he comes to be with her in St. Petersburg. They are very happy together and make a great looking couple, but soon their happiness gets under social pressures. Anna is hopelessly begging Mr. Karenin for a divorce, but he wants to keep the mother of their child. She has another baby born from her lover Vronsky. Conflict between her untamed desires and painful reality causes her a depression and suicidal thoughts. —Steve Shelokhonov

While matchmaking for friends and neighbours, a young 19th Century Englishwoman nearly misses her own chance at love. Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people's affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightley. —Philip Brubaker <coda@nando.net> Pretty socialite Emma Woodhouse entertains herself by playing matchmaker for those around her. Her latest "project" is Harriet Smith, an unpretentious debutante, while Emma herself receives the attentions of the dashing Frank Churchill. However, Emma's attempts at matchmaking cause more problems than solutions and could ultimately jeopardize her own chance at love and happiness. —Jwelch5742 With her main character Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen describes the coming-of-age of a privileged and intelligent woman at the beginning of the 19th century, who harms others with her misperception and is finally able to find her place in society. Jane Austen is reported to have said of her heroine: "I'm going to create a heroine that no one but me will particularly like." Mit ihrer Hauptfigur, Emma Woodhouse, schildert Jane Austen den Reifeprozess einer privilegierten und intelligenten jungen Frau anfangs des 19. Jahrhunderts, die mit ihrer verfehlten Wahrnehmung anderen schadet doch schließlich ihren Platz in der Gesellschaft finden kann. Jane Austen soll über ihre Heldin gesagt haben: "Ich werde eine Heldin schaffen, die keiner außer mir besonders mögen wird." —Rapunzel

New Years Eve, 1982 In England, we are introduced to Peter Morton (Stephen Fry), Andrew Benson (Kenneth Branagh), Roger Charleston (Hugh Laurie), Mary (Imelda Staunton), Maggie (Emma Thompson), and Sarah (Alphonsia Emmanuel), members of a Cambridge University acting troupe, who perform a silly and unconventional farewell revue for Peter's father (Richard Briers) and his unresponsive conservative guests at a New Year's Eve dinner ushering in the new year. They gather in the kitchen afterward and take a photograph to commemorate their last performance together. Ten years later; December 30, 1992. Peter has inherited his father's estate after Lord Morton's passing some months earlier. Uncertain if he will keep the mansion or sell it, Peter has invited his five friends for a New Year's Eve party for the weekend and convinces his stern housekeeper, Vera (Phyllida Law), to stay until the new year. Andrew, now a television writer/producer in Hollywood, California, flies to England with his American wife, Carol Benson (Rita Rudner), a famous actress and the star of his television comedy program. Roger and Mary are married TV commercial writers/producers living in suburban Birmingham, and she is worried about leaving their infant son, Ben, with a nanny. Frumpy Maggie, a struggling writer/publisher, asks an old lady neighbor of hers to look after her flat as she leaves pictures of herself for her pet cat, who appears unconcerned over her departure. On a train to Peter's estate, Sarah, now a costume designer living in London, has sex with her new lover, Brian (Tony Slattery), a stage actor that she works with in their cabin. The train arrives at the station where Sarah and Brian disembark and meet with Maggie, who has just arrived on the same train. Maggie, Sarah and Brian are soon greeted by Vera's teenage son, Paul (Alex Lowe), a chauffeur and handyman, who drives them to the estate, arriving just as Andrew and Carol arrive in a rented limo. Soon after, Roger and Mary arrive in their own car. Right after they arrive, Mary phones their nanny to check in. As everyone settles into their rooms, Sarah and Brian have sex once again, while Roger and Mary quarrel over whether she calls home too often. Meanwhile, Carol investigates Vera's cooking. Dismayed by the high-calorie rich food, Carol attempts to bribe Vera to accommodate her diet, to no avail. While Maggie and Andrew stroll the grounds, she reveals her lack of a love life. However, her company published a self-help book titled 'You May Already Know Your Mate', which claims friends can be marriage material. Although Maggie questions whether Peter is homosexual, she thinks he is the right man for her and plans to help him realize they should be together. At dinner, Carol and Sarah's boyfriend, Brian, both outsiders, are introduced to everyone, and Carol discovers that Brian is the only person who has seen her television show. As Peter toasts his friends, Brian and Sarah rudely ignore the others to focus on each other. She apologizes, claiming that she and Brian have not been together for very long and they get carried away with sex. As Mary excuses herself to call home yet again, Brian questions Roger about his work and learns that he and Mary are the top commercial jingle writers in England. When Mary returns, Brian asks if they use their twin children in their TV commercials. Mary rushes off crying and Brian learns that one of Roger and Mary's twins recently died. Later, as the friends drink coffee, Mary answers the telephone and announces that Brian's wife is calling. While he takes the call, Sarah reveals that he is married and has a child, but plans to divorce his wife. Although Sarah insists that Brian is different than her previous lovers, Mary is certain she is repeating her old pattern, and reminds everyone that Sarah was in love with Andrew until he dumped his girlfriend and asked Sarah to marry him, at which point she lost interest. This is news to Carol, who excuses herself. Brian returns and announces that he has just left his wife by telling her everything. Feeling vindicated, Sarah hugs him. Andrew joins his wife upstairs and Carol notes they planned to work out the difficulties in their marriage this weekend, and wonders why he never mentioned his past dalliance with Sarah. When he rejoins his friends downstairs, the group sings together again. Brian, left out of the singing, just watches. Minutes later, Mary receives a telephone call from the babysitter relating that her son has a slight cold, but the doctor says he is fine. Mary wants to leave, but Maggie convinces her to stay for the night and check on her son in the morning. Upstairs, Roger admits to Mary that although he still loves her, he has thought of ending their marriage because she blames him for their twin #1 son's death. Mary sobs that she knows she has been unreasonable, and Roger hugs her, promising to stay wit her. Meanwhile, Sarah is upset that Brian did not consult her before leaving his wife, noting they have only known each other for two weeks, and claims to be too tired to have sex with him. Later that night, Maggie goes to Peter's room, disrobes, and asks him to impregnate her. Peter is shocked and immediately turns her down. It is here that Peter reveals that he is bisexual, although he does not sleep with either men or women anymore. However, he insists that if he were having sex, Maggie would be high on his wish list. Embarrassed, Maggie begs him not to tell anyone. Downstairs in the kitchen, Maggie gets a drink and discovers Carol binge-eating leftover food. Maggie shares the story of her embarrassing visit to Peter's room, but believes there might still be hope since Peter is not sleeping with anyone. Carol insists Maggie is attractive beneath her frumpiness and offers to do a makeover, which Maggie accepts. The next morning, Carol leads Maggie into the kitchen, where Peter and Andrew admire her new look. Hearing sounds of lovemaking overhead, they assume it is Sarah and Brian. However, when Sarah enters the kitchen, everyone smiles as they realize the lovers are Roger and Mary. A little later, Carol receives a long-distance phone call from her agent in Hollywood and announces to Andrew and everyone else that she has been offered a film role which starts shooting right away on the day after New Years Day. Afterwards, Andrew asks if she will stay to work on their marriage, but she does not believe he will try. Outside, Sarah flirts with Vera's son, Paul, as he chops wood, but his attention is diverted when the newly made-over Maggie joins them. When Brian wanders outside, Sarah ignores him and rushes inside for a drink. She discovers that Andrew, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, has abandoned his sobriety and is drinking whiskey. Andrew confides in Sarah that he thought his marriage to Carol would improve when they both stopped drinking, but everything became more complicated. He tells Sarah that she is addicted to romance, not reality, and that is why she abandons her lovers when they become available. A minute later, Sarah flirts with Andrew and as she kisses him, Carol walks into the room, sees them and becomes angry. She tells Andrew that she was going to refuse the film role, but now plans to leave again to catch the first plane back to California. Sarah heads upstairs, and sees Brian crying on the telephone as he talks to his son. When Brian joins her, Sarah admits the commitment issue is her problem and he should go back to his family. As she leaves, Sarah hears moans coming from Maggie's bedroom, and opens the door to discover Maggie having sex with Paul. Meanwhile, Roger and Mary continue to make love, and when the telephone rings, he wonders who is calling and Mary insists someone will let them know if it is for them. Downstairs, Peter helps Vera in the kitchen and learns she plans to retire. He wants her to stay if he keeps the house, but she declines because she disapproves of his lifestyle. Carol and Andrew have an argument where she declares that his unhappiness with himself is their primary marital problem, and she quickly packs up and leaves to return to Hollywood alone as the rented limo picks her up and drives away. Shortly afterword, Brian's wife picks him up in her car and they speed away. At dinner that evening, Roger and Mary join the others and admit they made love all day in their bedroom and only telephoned home twice. Andrew drunkenly joins the group where he profanely berates his friends, and turns his vitriol toward Peter, wondering if he invited them because everyone was having a difficult year and Peter wanted to "save" them. Here, Peter reveals he invited them because he wanted his closest friends to know that he was diagnosed as being HIV positive six months ago. Peter's sour revelation stuns everyone into heartbreaking silence as the midnight hour is upon them. As the clock strikes 12 midnight, Peter raises his glass and asks them to toast the new year of 1993. Peter's friends, Andrew, Roger, Mary, Maggie, and Sarah hesitate until Vera enters and toasts Peter. The others join the toast, and Andrew apologizes to everyone for his rude behavior. Peter reveals he does not have AIDS yet, and it is possible that a cure might be discovered in time to save him. Peter joins Vera in the kitchen and she asks why he did not tell her that he is HIV positive. Peter explains that he thought she, a highly religious person, would consider it a deserved punishment for his bisexual lifestyle, but Vera insists she has loved him since he was a child. In the final scene, Peter rejoins the others and brings out their funny group picture from 1982 (taken in the opening scene). The friends laugh as they sing together once again as the film ends.