This paper examines the film, "Swept from the Sea," directed by Beeban Kidron and based on "Amy Foster," a short story by Joseph Conrad. The film is a tragic romance about individual isolation, prejudice, secrets, ignorance, and misunderstandings. "Swept from the Sea" movingly condemns the condescending presumption that encourages people to believe they know the truth when they know only some of the facts of a particular situation. The story indicates the kinds of secrets which the human heart is capable of concealing.
The film takes place primarily in England in the late 19th century and opens with a beautiful woman atop a cliff gazing out at a wild stretch of sea from the cliffs above. She stands with a small boy, watching the waves. A man arrives in a cart, calling her name, revealing her as Amy Foster (Rachel Weisz), "a strange, dreamy local girl" (Calhoun 6). The cart brings her to the bedside of the kindly Miss Swaffer (Kathy Bates), but her ministrations are cut short by the arrival of Dr. Kennedy (Ian McKellen), who curtly sends the girl on her way.
His coldness prompts Miss Swaffer to convince him to tell her why he dislikes Amy so much, and the majority of the movie is the flashback that tells Amy's story. Amy was raised in this desolate Cornish town, rejected and hated by her parents, Mary and Isaac (Tom Bell and Zoe Wanamaker), for reasons she does not understand until very late in the film. Amy retaliates by refusing to speak, and her silence convinces those around her that she is either retarded or slightly mad. Those around her believe her to be illiterate. She earns her keep as a servant to Farmer Smith (Tom Bell), dutifully visiting her family every Sunday and silently enduring their scorn.
Her only joy is a cave at the edge of the sea, where she can occasionally retreat and examine the treasures she finds along the shore. She considers these to be her personal gifts - bits of fishing net, stubs...