The Sidmouth Letters(1982)

The Sidmouth Letters is a film about obsession with literary history. Annie is haunted by Jane Austen, the great novelist, but she isn't alone in her fixation. Shorty, an academic scavenger, claims to have uncovered letters that expose a previously unknown side of Austen's character. As both characters pursue their separate quests, their paths collide in unexpected ways. The discovery of these mysterious letters threatens to upend everything scholars thought they knew about one of literature's most celebrated authors. What emerges is a tense exploration of how we construct narratives around historical figures and the dangerous allure of hidden truths. The film examines whether some secrets are meant to stay buried, and what happens when obsession overtakes reason in the pursuit of knowledge.