Daphne Du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek(1998)

From Google Images

The movie is based on this book adapted for the small screen by

Patrick Harbison

From imdb

Seeking to escape the stifling London court society, the beautiful headstrong Lady Dona St. Columb flees to her family estate on the Cornish coast. Her new freedom swiftly brings her into contact with the dashingly handsome French privateer Jean Aubrey who sweeps her off her feet and into a world of adventure on the high seas very different from her dull and boring life at court with her husband Sir Harry. Together with Jean Aubrey and her enigmatic servant William, Lady Dona conceives a daring plan to steal a ship right from under the noses of the English authorities. The theft enrages the authorities who make every effort to trap the French Pirate. However, as the noose begins to tighten around the lovers, Lady Dona is faced with the dilemma of duty and children with Sir Harry or freedom and excitement with Jean Aubrey.

—Mark Smith <msmith@osi.co.uk>

You guessed it right.  Although the poster shows the sea, the enticers of this movie are the horses.

I don't know any of the actors except for Annie Popplewell, Susan of the Chronicles of Narnia. Here, she plays Henrietta, the overly religious daughter of Lady Dona.

Regarding the love story between Lady Dona and Jean Aubrey, the attraction was very obvious right from the start and the sexual tension.

The battle between religion and inner turmoils are caught between the war between the English and the French plus the Dutch.

Lady Dona's attraction brought her to want to be with Jean Aubrey more than being with her children.  Her daughter, Henrietta, saw her leaving with Jean Aubrey, making her resent her mother more.

This, by the way, is the remake of the movie of the same title.

From imdb

The classic has more popular actors that brought to like the characters created by Daphne Du Maurier in 1941.  She was already married to Frederick "Boy" Browning, a bemedalled military officer.

Du Maurier was a woman ahead of her time.  She was also bisexual, but besides that, she had a disturbed childhood.

Well, that is another issue altogether, but maybe, just maybe the outcome of her stories had something to do with her disturbed past.

The 1998 version with less popular actors is more realistic, at least for me.  

Anthony Delon, though unknown to me, is the former boyfriend of Princess Stephanie of Monaco and has a lot of French movies that he starred in.  His father is more popular: Monsieur Alain Delon.  His mother is Alain Delon's ex-wife, Nathalie. 

Although not very popular in 1998, at least in my book, Tara is a part of the high rating HBO series, Game of Thrones as Selyse Baratheon, but before appearing in this made for TV movie, she has been a very busy actress.  The Frenchman's Creek is her 18th project, and if you count her recurring appearances in some TV shows, then she had more exposure than the number of projects I mentioned. 

Tara and Anthony have good onscreen chemistry and we should thank Celestia Fox for seeing that.  Their co-stars were also chosen well.

Honestly, I thought I was going to get bored with this version or I would've cringed, but none of that happened.

It is a good version, I must say.

Thanks for your time dear reader.