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Review

This sweeping post-Civil War adaptation of The Return of Martin Guerre is a pleasant Hollywood rarity: an American remake of a European art-house hit which doesn't ruin all memory of the original. Gere plays Jack Sommersby, a wealthy Confederate landowner who returns to his little valley several years after the war. Long thought dead, he is greeted with a mixture of disbelief, distrust and cautious joy by both the townsfolk and his wife, marvelously portrayed by Foster. Ultimately, Gere's Sommersby is so gentle and loving that Foster can't believe he is really her husband, who had been an abusive alcoholic when he left for the war. Which raises the question: Is he who he claims to be? Director Amiel superbly recreates the antebellum South, but what makes it all worthwhile is the dazzling on-screen magnetism between Foster and Gere.