I reread MARY REILLY by Valerie Martin after reading Liedeke Plate’s essay arguing the book’s portrayal of Mary’s life in Jekyll’s household is more complicated than I thought. Plate’s take is, among other things, that Jekyll’s insistent probing into Mary’s abused past and his using her as his secret messenger go way beyond what an employer is entitled to and constitute another form of abuse. Plus I was reading the part of Jekyll and Hyde dealing with the 1992 movie adaptation to my writing group.
Plate has a point, and rereading with the movie fresh in my mind, I can see it’s closer to Stevenson than the movie is. Rereading also made me see that part of my problem with John Malkovich’s Jekyll is that where Martin’s, like Stevenson’s, has a close circle of friends and his charitable work, the film’s Jekyll has no life outside his research. That said, I’m still not into the book.
That said, the movie MARY REILLY is a mixed bag. I find myself liking Stephen Frears visuals more and more when I rewatch it, from the constant sense of Mary (Julia Roberts) being enclosed (whether on high walled streets or isolated in Jekyll’s laboratory) to Mary’s futile efforts to grow a small garden in the courtyard between the lab and Jekyll’s house. And yes, Jekyll here is indeed abusive in different ways (and not as bad) as Mary’s brutal father (Michael Gambon), sending Mary off on an uncomfortable errand to a whorehouse, asking probing questions or simply the fact he’s making a common housemaid his confidante, enraging his butler Poole and making Mary’s co-workers wonder just how friendly they’re getting. A speculation which Mary knows could hurt her far more than it will Jekyll …
The film does better than the book in showing Mary’s backbreaking work life but it’s also unrealistic. After reading Servants, I realized a housemaid would never serve Jekyll breakfast in bed (that’s a footman’s job) but it’s a necessity for the plot that both lets him talk to her privately and fuels the servants’ suspicions.
Malkovich, though, remains a bland Jekyll, only somewhat better as Hyde. “It was inevitable from the moment I found the way to be what I always wanted — to be the knife as well as the wound.”
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