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Review

Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize—winning novel makes for riveting drama, but it isn't as wholly successful as it could have been due to director Demme's sometimes fragmented filmmaking style. In a totally believable portrayal, Winfrey is Sethe, an ex-slave raising her family in rural Ohio. However, their isolated tranquility is shattered when they are visited by the ghost of Sethe's long-dead child, Beloved. Her presence, embraced by Sethe and her daughter Denver and viewed upon with suspicion by Sethe's lover Paul D. (Glover), sets in motion the resurfacing of faded memories and buried secrets of the past, acts which were performed only to escape a life of slavery. Demme has true command over the scenes of the haunting, which are spellbinding and make up much of the film. But the intricacies of the characters are often overshadowed by the film's stylized storytelling. He does, however, get superb performances from his cast, especially Elise as Denver.