This film has it all: brilliant script, superb direction, great acting. It's a revenge melodrama, a dysfunctional family drama, a mystery/thriller, and a feminist take on the 'woman's picture', all rolled into one. Sixty years ago, Bette Davis would have had a field day with the title role, but back then Hollywood would never have had the nerve to make a picture with so radical a socio-political point of view. Hackford virtually re-invents the use of flashbacks, and the eclipse sequence is a classic. This film was pretty much ignored by critics when it was released, but it will be around long after most of 1995's films have passed into oblivion.