'Afterimage', an intense exploration of the search for identity and meaning, captures the tension between the intellectual yearnings and the repressed sexuality of the Victorian age. It is the story of Annie, who arrives at a wealthy country house to work as a maid. Used to the grinding labour of servitude, she is startled to find herself drawn into a world where dreams and desires are possible.
'Afterimage' is also the story of Isabelle, Annie's mistress, who desperately wants to become a great photographer, but is thwarted by her sex and society's expectations. Using her servants as models, she creates a series of portraits of women that echo the Romantic tradition: Ophelia, Guinevere, Sappho, and the Virgin Mary are exposed through the camera's eye as passionate, yearning souls. Physically distanced from her husband Eldon, who dreams of becoming a great cartographer, Isabelle finds herself drawn into forbidden territory with Annie.
