Swept from the Sea

Swept from the Sea is a 1997 American drama film directed by Beeban Kidron and starring Vincent Perez, Rachel Weisz, and Ian McKellen. Based on the 1901 short story Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad, N the film is about a doomed love affair between a simple country girl and a Ukrainian peasant who is swept onto the Cornish shore in 1888 after his emigrant ship sinks on its way to America.

A few months later, Dr. Kennedy Ian McKellen and Mr. Swaffer Joss Ackland are playing chess when Yanko approaches and shows the men a series of brilliant chess moves. Dr. Kennedy soon determines that the man is in fact Russian. Having gained a newfound respect for the stranger, the Swaffers take him in, start paying him for his labor, and give him normal working hours. Yanko learns from the doctor that Miss Swaffer Kathy Bates, on the eve of her wedding day, had a horseriding accident and broke her spine. The doctor also reveals that he lost his wife and son to typhus many lifetimes ago. The doctors fatherly affection for Yanko is evident in their meetings, where Yanko learns English and the doctor learns chess. The doctor purchases Yanko a new suit of clothes, which gives him the courage to visit Amy and ask her to go for walks.When Mr. Swaffer learns of Yankos interest in Amy, he tries to dissuade her from any romantic involvement. Amys parents also urge her to stay awayher mother warning her that love is Gods trick upon women. When Yanko goes to church, he encounters a hostility in the congregation that bewilders him. Their eyes are like glass, he later tells Amy, who finds him at the obelisk memorial for the ships dead. There he learns for the first time what happened to his fellow passengers. To escape the hate, Amy takes Yanko to her secret cave filled with treasures she found on the shore, which she calls gifts from the sea. Yanko and Amy make love in the cave. ........

Source: Wikipedia