The Intended (2002)

33% of critics liked it
(27 reviews)
47% of users liked it
(84 ratings)

Danish filmmaker Kristian Levring directs the Dogme 95-inspired period drama The Intended, co-written by leading lady Janet McTeer. Shot with digital video, the film takes place in the Malaysia jungle during the 1920s. Fortysomething British woman Sarah (McTeer) travels with her younger fiancé,… More Danish filmmaker Kristian Levring directs the Dogme 95-inspired period drama The Intended, co-written by leading lady Janet McTeer. Shot with digital video, the film takes place in the Malaysia jungle during the 1920s. Fortysomething British woman Sarah (McTeer) travels with her younger fiancé, Hamish Winslow (JJ Feild), to a small community near Borneo. Hamish has been hired to survey the land and map a road for a trading post run by a deeply dysfunctional family. The local ruler is tough matriarch Mrs. Jones (Brenda Fricker), who dominates her son William (Tony Maudsley) and nephew Norton (Philip Jackson). When a climate change causes them to become even more isolated, the family tension takes a dark turn. Also starring Olympia Dukakis. The Intended premiered at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 52 min.
Directed By: Kristian Levring
Written By: Janet McTeer, Kristian Levring
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Jun 17, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Dec 28, 2004
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Too dank and familiar an expedition.
Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle
A story bent on melodrama and borderline sadism.
Tom Long, Detroit News
It's a moderately creepy, man-beyond- civilization exercise that can't decide whether it's arty or scary, and thus ends up being neither.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
We begin hoping the ghost of Tennessee Williams will jump out of the bush and inform these characters that it takes more than wounded people with dark secrets, annoying insects and dripping moisture to make something of a tale like this.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Fans of Jungle Gothics would do better to let this one slip back into the underbrush.
Eddie Cockrell, Variety
Few actresses can deliver intensity like McTeer, and it's that distinctive, all-purpose stare coupled with her sheer physicality that once again dominates the story.
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
Shrewd and astute, this is a film with a power that sneaks up on you and lingers long after it's over in a way you can't easily shake.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
introspectively good
Harry Haun, Film Journal International
Tropical tripe.
Karen Karbo, Oregonian
The pace is stultifying, and even though the ensemble looks realistically stinky and sweaty, the stately progression of events mirrors far too well the torpor of the tropics.
Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan
An irritating bit of jungle gothic gone bad.
David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune
Levring and an excellent cast are lost in the shadow of Conrad and other masters, and their sex-money theme requires a genius of hopelessness like Erich von Stroheim.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Although phenomenally well-acted, the film's leisurely pace ultimately makes it feel as oppressive as the tropical heat and humidity that gradually turn the characters into slow-moving heaps of damp, dirty rags.
Timothy Knight, Reel.com
A stunning achievement, an emotionally charged period drama that unfolds with the tragic inevitability of a Joseph Conrad novella.
, E! Online
Aided by a terrific cast, this flick effectively conveys a gloomy, claustrophobic sense of doom.
Joe McGovern, Slant Magazine
If Wolfgang Peterson had any guts, she would have been offered Helen of Troy.