The Secret Garden by Agnieszka Holland

“If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden.” Such a phrase makes one stop in their tracks and thinks about what exactly could make the world a global garden as the concept of a garden can be ambiguous. Is it a piece of land used for the production of plants, vegetables, and flowers? Is it certain square footage of soil and grass that one escapes to when they need peace, quiet, the sun shining on their face and the wind blowing against their skin? Is it a physical place that holds precious memories in one’s mind? Is it a home to a family of animals and insects? Maybe it is all of these things or maybe it is just one of these things to many different people. No matter what exactly a garden is, it is one of the few things that is seen as a positive part of life by all who exist and have existed. Needless to say, a garden tends to be associated with all that is good - but its meaning and association are different in terms of everyone’s experience with a specific garden or gardens in general. Sure, talking about gardens might seem boring, but not when it is used to bring about life and magic to a certain plot of a film. The Secret Garden is a film with a great plot, unique characters, stunning cinematography, lovely sound and music, compelling screenplay, powerful visual design, superb editing, great themes, high-quality acting, and the best of directors. The Secret Garden is not about just any garden, and this particular film adaptation that was first released in 1993 was not made by just any director, but by a powerful women figure from who is quite the reputable filmmaker in the today - Agnieszka Holland. A film of high ratings and great reviews across the board cannot be confined to a bundle of pages as such a limit does not do justice to the creativity and hard work that played into a phenomenal production. However, the basic components of the film on top of the logistics of creating the film deserved to be covered and elaborated on yet even if shortly and simply.

Agnieszka Holland, born 28 of November 1948 in , Poland is a Polish director and screenwriter who studied at FAMU film school in Prague, Czech Republic. As known by most director fanatics, every director out there has their very own personal and transformative reason as to why they chose to embark on the tough journey of becoming a prominent and successful filmmaker - Holland’s reason for such an occupation was quite interesting. According to an online discussion [1], Agnieszka mentioned that she was fifteen years old when she decided to become a director. Interestingly enough, she wanted to be a painter before she decided on that but she once met a young boy who was a very talented painter - she watched him paint and watched him watch her paint - and noticed that he was positive towards his work, but one day he said one sentence that affected her in regards to her paintings and ultimately changed her life, her purpose and her way of seeing things; he said, “it is not bad for a woman”. This led Holland to realize that she desperately needed to find a way to express herself visually, in a different way other than painting, in order to tell the world of important stories, truths of certain topics and events, and to obtain power over the messages that can be visually exposed, and Holland did exactly that. Many of Holland’s films are based on true stories and have opened many eyes to the reality of certain things. Moreover, Holland is a sophisticated director who has a sense of cultivation in regards to world affairs and certain countries’ histories. Holland once said, “... if you are not interested in politics, politics is certainly interested in you and will start to play with your life, your body, your wealth, your peace and future…”. This quote alone shows the awareness that Holland has and chooses to show through her work. According to IMDb [2],

Holland has directed at least twenty-two films, two TV shows, many episodes of numerous TV shows, has written for many films and TV shows, has acted as a Second Unit Director, Assistant

Director and Producer, and has had over nineteen nominations for her work all from the

Academy Awards, BAFTA Award, People’s Choice Award, Grand Jury Prize, Goya Award,

Polish Academy Award, European Film Award, Czech Lion Award, Golden Lion, Silver Lion,

Primetime Emmy Award, Independent Spirit Award, Independent Spirit Award and more. The nominations spanned from Best Film to Best Director to Best International Feature to Best

Screenplay to Best Feature Series to Best European Film. Needless to say, Agnieszka Holland is known as a genius on a global scale, but even more so in the film industry. In addition, Holland has received many awards; these awards are the following: Polish Academy Special Award,

Czech Lion Award for Best Director, Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis, National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Polityka Passport Award for Creator of

Culture, Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Czech Lion Film Fans

Award, National Society of Film Critics Special Citation, and Officer’s Cross of the Order of

Polonia Restituta, all spanning from 1991 for Holland’s film to 2018 for the film

Spoor. Agnieszka Holland continues to be a force in the film industry and never fails to astonish her audience with works of a genius mind.

The Secret Garden is known as a best-selling book with five film adaptations. The first movie adaptation of The Secret Garden was released in 1949, the second in 1993, the third in

2001, the fourth in 2017, and the fifth in 2020. All films are of excellence as each plot and all characters are essentially the same; however, The Secret Garden adaptation by Agnieszka

Holland is special in its way; The Secret Garden, as most films and novels do, has a protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist is Mary Lennox, a young girl, who is played by and the antagonist is Mrs. Medlock, an older lady who is seen as the caretaker who is played by . Other important characters include the following: Sir Colin Craven, a young boy who is Mary’s cousin, played by Heydon Prowse. Archibald Craven, Colin’s Father, played by

John Lynch. Dickon Sowerby, a friend of Mary’s, played by Andrew Knott. Martha Sowerby, a maid, played by Laura Crossley. Lily Craven, Mary’s Mother, played by Irene Jacob. Ben

Weatherstaff, the gardener, played by Walter Sparrow, and more. [3] The Secret Garden plot is as follows; Mary Lennox was a young girl who was born in India to not-so-attentive, but loving, parents. Mary struggled with gaining their attention, but over time, we see that Mary Lennox’s parents are still in the phase of extreme love between each other and despite their love for Mary, they simply do not give her as much attention as she would like. Unfortunately, Mary’s parents passed away due to an intense earthquake in India which left Mary without her parents and having to leave her birth country. Mary was sent to live at her Uncle Archibald Craven’s mansion in England which is in an area opposite of India in terms of the weather, culture, people, and so on. Although Uncle Archibald is seldom seen at the beginning of the film, he has a powerful presence as he is spoken about all the time and is seen as a mysterious figure by Mary

Lennox as well as almost everyone else within the household. On top of that, Uncle Archibald is dealing with the death of his wife and purposely avoids interaction with the people of the mansion, specific items that remind him of his deceased wife, and his son as well. Mary Lennox, a sassy young girl who thinks she is superior to everyone thanks to the way she was raised, acts shocked as to how she is treated - at first, she is expected to dress and feed herself which she is not used to. Moreover, Mrs. Medlock is told to look after Mary but Mrs. Medlock tends to be quite serious, strict and gives off no-nonsense vibes. Although her behavior is expected as she is in control of the household, she tends to go overboard with her controlling ways and acts tyrannically at times. Right off the bat, Mary and Mrs. Medlock does not get along as Mary is used to being spoiled and doing whatever she wants, and although at first she is confined to her room, porridge, and black outfits, Mary escapes her ways into the secret corridors of such a large house. Eventually, Mary develops a good friendship with Martha who is a lovely and kind maid that seems like just the right person to get through anyone’s supposed tough exteriors. Martha introduces Mary to silly and fun things such as skipping rope, and Martha also finds a way to get

Mary to lighten her mood and not take herself so seriously. All while Mary is getting used to her new situation and attempting to adapt to new peoples, new country, and a new home, Mary hears odd distant crying noises at night time and seldom during the day. Martha and Mrs. Medlock claim that the noises are nothing, but Mary’s inquisitiveness tells her differently. With her mind constantly wondering where the crying noises are coming from, Mary starts to explore outside.

She finds a lovely and playful bird that seems to be the only life there is around the area. On top of making friends with the bird, she comes across Ben Weatherstaff who happens to be the gardener. The secret garden itself is not so secret as Ben and the bird encompass the existence of the garden which makes Mary so eager to figure out how to enter - the difficulty of finding an entrance in addition to the mystery of what has happened in the garden and what exactly the garden consists of is what makes it such a secretive enigma. At this point, Mary has two objectives: getting into the garden and figuring out where the crying noises are coming from.

Eventually, Mary finds Sir Colin Craven, her cousin, and son of Uncle Archibald. Colin is said to be sick and is kept in the dark with restrictions of whoever goes near him must wear a mask to prevent the spread of germs. Colin and Mary eventually form a close bond, each pushing each other’s boundaries. Colin faces problems such as thinking he will one day have a back hump as a father, he will die soon, and his father does not love him. Mary on the other hand defies all of this and slowly pushes Colin to stand up for himself and not to sulk all day and every day about his supposed sickness. As one can assume, Mrs. Wedlock eventually became aware of their correlation and at first, tried to separate the two but then Colin finally stood up for himself and took control of the house. Furthermore, we see Mary, Colin and Mary are kind friend Dickon? who befriended her as well earlier in the movie, go out and have fun(awkward sentence). As time goes on, Colin slowly pushes away the false beliefs he had of himself and one by one, steps outside of his comfort zone; the instance of stepping out of his comfort zone vary from him exposing himself to light, to standing up for himself, to attempting to walk, to trying his best to reach out to his father. Mary on the other hand eventually gains access to the garden and although she, Colin, and Dickon enter it (what?) and enjoy the surroundings, there is still adversity that stems from Mrs. Wedlock unwillingness to let these children “misbehave” and their attempts to get Uncle Archibald to come back so that he can see his deceased wife exists within the secret garden and that his son is a healthy boy who needs to be loved by his father

(long sentence break into two for more clarity)Each character in the film has their personal problems that may or may not be so apparent to viewers. For one, Mary is a force to be reckoned with yet people and thoughts and ideas hold her back from doing what she believes is best to be done, but even more important, she feels alone as her parents are forever gone and she feels that no one truly wants her or loves her - perhaps this gives her a sense that she does not belong anywhere. Mrs. Wedlock, although seen as the angry and annoying person running around the place, faces stress and frustration with doing what she thinks is best for Colin and Mary which inevitably makes her come off as the “bad” person. Martha, a sweet and lovely maid, seems as if she is meant for so much more and can change the atmosphere of the household but she’s silenced all the time by Mrs. Wedlock and fails to stand up for herself and voice her opinions.

Uncle Archibald on the other hand is distant from everyone, traveling from place to place and leaving the house for a season at times - although he is just trying to accept that his true love is gone, he does not know that Colin, his son, is waiting for him at home and the bond, if paid attention to, can result in ultimate joy and that Mary, his niece, was sent to him to revive the life within the household and their lives and to bring about the magic that will forever change the relationships of all within the household. Mary’s relentless efforts to get into the secret garden and to bring it back to life and to wake Colin up from his false beliefs so that he could enjoy himself and life was exactly what Uncle Archibald needed. As the end of the film nears, Uncle

Archibald returns home thanks to a silly ritual that Colin, Mary, and Dickon did around a fire in the secret garden. Uncle Archibald is not only shocked to see his son out in the open and walking, but he is delighted to see Mary, as well as her eyes, resemble his wife’s, and as he entered the secret garden, it was as if life had entered back into him. In conclusion, Mrs.

Wedlock gets a verbal beating as it is very much deserved but it was noticeable that she was almost somewhat relieved that perhaps she would not have to carry on with certain duties anymore. Mary, Colin, Dickon, Martha, Ben and Uncle Archibald, and more seem to be happy and relieved which is evident as Uncle Archibald and his son are finally in the position they should be in terms of their relationship status, Mary feels welcomed at the home and has Dickon by her side who seems to be falling in love with her, Ben seems ecstatic that he finally gets to be a full-time gardener, and Martha, oh sweet Martha, not only supports Mrs. Wedlock in her breakdown but knows that she will no longer be silenced. The Secret Garden is of an extensive plot, great and complex characters, interesting settings, and unforeseen twists and turns, but it is an excellent film at the least. [4]

The Secret Garden is a film that brings tears, laughter, happiness, and sadness to its audience but what is most prominent is its theme. Multiple messages, symbolic realizations, and themes are usually pointed out in films, but The Secret Garden manages to make sure that its audience remembers what is most important by the end of the movie - family, and healing. As mentioned before, each character needs to experience some healing to overcome traumatic experiences that most of the characters have faced, especially Mary, Colin, and Uncle Archibold.

Each of these characters has a major obstacle to overcome; Uncle Archibold must accept that his beloved wife is gone and therefore he must be there for his son in every possible way, Mary must realize that her parents did indeed love her and although they are gone, she must also realize that she is still loved, cared for and wanted, and Colin who has been in a dark room for countless months must break free from his said illusions and realize that he is a healthy boy, his mother is not to be blamed for his death, and his father does indeed love him. Thanks to Mary, who storms into the mansion figuratively and literally, forces such transformations to happen by breaking rules, forcing Colin to step outside of the box, doing whatever it takes to access the secret garden, reminding Uncle Archibold of his beloved wife with her eyes and helping Colin to use external energies to bring him back home to revamp the family’s happiness. We can thank the secret garden and its mysteriousness for ultimately being the root cause of such a victory within the family. Furthermore, we can see that families can easily be broken apart by tragic events such as the passing of family members, difficult children, distant parents, and so forth, but a child’s open-minded ways of behaving and something as simple as a garden with memories has the potential to not only heal someone or multiple people but has the potential to change lives and to bring a family back together.

In conclusion, The Secret Garden by Agnieszka Holland in simple terms is just one of the few movie adaptations of a great best-selling novel. However, it is more than just that. It is several components of the film as previously mentioned along with the gifted director behind this film that makes it an exceptional film in several ways. The secret garden is most definitely a garden that one would hope to find after seeing such magic that it entails in this film for we all need a bit of magic in our lives and for we all have some healing to do, especially within family relations. Thanks to who wrote the novel The Secret Garden [5], we are reminded of the importance in life - the importance of personal alleviation and the trusty key to one’s priceless sense of belonging and inner enjoyment - family. Thanks to Agnieszka

Holland, her adaptation of the novel left us having been deeply touched at the same time as being mesmerized by her interpretation of what the secret garden would look like. Moreover, everything from the sound and music to the actors themselves has a sense of uniqueness and uncanny ability to carry out such an important visual expression objective of a substantial and distinguished novel. A film that has a mix of family and drama is a film that never disappoints. A film based on an appreciable novel is of course a challenging aim as there will always be a cohort of people that claim film adaptations of books are never as good as the book itself, but based on ratings, reactions, and critiques by reputable film critics, the aim was met with flying colors. Most importantly, a film made by Agnieszka Holland is a film that will always have me counting down the days until it is officially released.

- Intro (1 page) - good - LOOK OVER - Look over once more

- First cover agnieszka holland (short summary of her movies /life and then why

she chose to make this movie) (1.8 pages) - good - LOOK OVER - look over once

more

- Paragraph of what the film consists of (plot) (more than 2 pages hehhe ) - DONE -

LOOK OVER - look over once more

- Theme? Or perhaps a bit of information covering all of the components of the

film (at least 1 page) - DONE! LOOK OVER!!! - look over once more

- Conclusion of first (0.5 or 1 page) - DONE! - LOOK OVER!!!! - look over once

more

- YOU did it!! (proud of you, started yes April 24th and ended today April 25th at

10:37) Now watch the 2020 secret garden and nomadland /drums movie now- so

good - and reread this tomorrow / make edits / add more / finalize so you can turn

in WED end of the day but earlier morning CALL IT MANSION INSTEAD - lol

Work Cited

[2] “Agnieszka Holland.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0002140/.

[1] “Discussion with Agnieszka Holland.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoAWn2LTsm8.

[4] Holland, Agnieszka, director. The Secret Garden. The Secret Garden, 1993.

[3] “The Secret Garden.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0108071/fullcredits. [5] “'Weird Tale' by Secret Garden Author Frances Hodgson Burnett Discovered.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 9 Apr. 2020, www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/09/weird-tale-secret-garden-frances-hodgson-burnett- discovered-christmas-in-the-fog.