"I don't know what my accent is now," said Jennifer Ehle, the American-born, British-trained actress who can be seen as the Victorian poet Christabel LaMotte in Possession, Neil LaBute's film of A. S. Byatt's novel, which opens today nationwide.
Ms. Ehle (pronounced EE-lee), daughter of the English actress Rosemary Harris and the American novelist John Ehle, spent her early childhood in the United States. "But then I was in England from 11 to 13, and then came back here, and then I went back there when I was 18, to drama school," she said.
"I ended up staying for 12 years, and then came back over with The Real Thing, " Ms. Ehle said, referring to the revival of Tom Stoppard's 1982 play that had a limited run on Broadway in 2000. "Apart from going back to do Possession, I've pretty much stayed here since then."
Despite the Tony Award Ms. Ehle won for The Real Thing, she is probably best known for her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. Filmmakers have continued to cast her in period roles, in films like Wilde (1997) and Sunshine (1999).
"I don't know why that is," she said in an interview in a Manhattan hotel room. "Out of the things I get offered, or have a reasonable chance to go for, they are the most interesting parts. There are very few parts like Elizabeth Bennet in contemporary stuff. And if they're like a Mulholland Drive or something, I'm not going to get close to that."
The part in Possession came out of the blue, Ms. Ehle said. "It literally was the day after The Real Thing closed, and I was all ready to take a year off. But then there it was: `Do you want to come to London in five days and do a wig fitting?'
"When I read the book," Ms. Ehle recalled, "I didn't see myself physically as that Christabel at all. I saw her as much more Arthur Rackham-ish, kind of spindly. And so I did something I've never done before and tried to imagine myself looking physically different than I actually do. When I finally saw the film last week, it was a bit of a shock to see who was actually playing Christabel because it wasn't at all who I had in my head."
It was a surprise to many when Mr. LaBute, a filmmaker known for acerbic satires like In the Company of Men (1997) and Your Friends and Neighbors (1998), was announced as the director of the softly romantic Possession. "I thought it was strange before I met him," Ms. Ehle said. "I had just seen his first two films, and I had no idea on earth why he would be attracted to a story like Possession. But that's why we shouldn't make assumptions, I suppose, because as soon as I met him, I saw he had a big, generous soul. He's a teddy bear with a lot of fascinating things to say."