The Secret Garden
Agnieszka Hollands adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnetts classic fairy tale, THE SECRET GARDEN is a highly entertaining family picture that is overflowing with gorgeous imagery. Ten-year-old Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is a spoiled rich girl living in colonial India with her aloof parents who frequent elegant parties and leave her with servants who attend to her every whim. When her parents are killed, however, Marys life changes drastically. Shes shipped off to England to live in the enormous manor of her fathers friend, Lord Archibald Craven (John Lynch), and his invalid son, Colin (Heydon Prowse). Lord Craven, a miserable recluse since his wifes death, ignores his son and leaves the household management to Mrs. Medlock (Maggie Smith), an ironhanded authoritarian. In this cold environment, the children, with help from spirited maid Martha Sowerby and her younger brother, Dickon, manage to find happiness in a special garden hidden away for years.