Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn – 9 Over-The-Top Outfits

Ingrid Bergman in Under Capricorn, movie recap and all Ingrid Bergman’s fashion in the movie

This post is all about Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 and her 9 over-the-top outfits

Ingrid Bergman stars as Lady Henrietta Flusky in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Under Capricorn 1949.

Under Capricorn centers around a love triangle set in the frontier town of Sydney Australia, 1831. 

This costume drama showcases the 1940’s perspective of a noblewoman’s fashion in 18th-century Sydney. 

Step aside Pride and Prejudice, Miss Elizabeth Bennett has nothing on Regency era Lady Henrietta Flusky! 

Be prepared to run out and buy a hair curler after reading this!

 

Under Capricorn Synopsis

Hitchcock movie scene - under capricorn 1949

In 1813, Sydney Australia was a bustling frontier town full of hardened ex-convicts from the British colonies. 

A handsome young gentleman, the Honorable Charles Adare (Michael Wilding) travels to Australia to seek fame and fortune.

Instead he begins to fall in love with a mysterious noblewoman he knew as a child, Lady Henrietta Flusky (Ingrid Bergman) who is married so a brooding ex-con Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotten). 

What he doesn’t know is that Lady Henrietta is harboring deep secrets of her own as she teeters on the brink of madness.

It’s inspiring to see Ingrid Bergman in a technicolor film as we’re so accustomed to seeing her in black and white.

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 Outfit #1 – Lounging Wear 

Charles Adare arrives for a dinner party at Sam Flusky’s gothic colonial mansion.

Right away there is a creepy atmosphere and people are acting odd.

Just as everyone is about to eat, Lady Henrietta gingerly walks into the room, very barefoot and very tipsy.

The outfit Ingrid Bergman’s character wears is a brown floor length dress with ruffles and pleats galore.

The dress is adorned with fake roses along the hem and bodice, and she also has roses and leaves intertwined in her hair, which is styled with tight ringlets. 

“I hope I’m not too late to take a glass of wine with you,” she announces to the surprised dinner party.

She sits down next to Adare and realizes she knows him, as he is the brother of her childhood friend.

Ingrid Bergman as Lady Henrietta in Under Capricorn arrives to dinner barefoot

Ingrid Bergman as Lady Henrietta in Under Capricorn arrives to dinner barefoot

Lady Henrietta leaves a few minutes later.

She then screams in terror. She’s clearly spooked, gasping that something is in her bedroom!

Although Adere sees nothing, as a gentleman, he fires a shot into the fireplace to placate her.

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 Outfit #2 – Frilly Nightgown & Robe

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn wearing a nightgown with plenty of lace. There seems to be no shortage of lace in 19th century Australia!

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn wearing a nightgown with plenty of lace. There seems to be no shortage of lace in 19th century Australia!

That evening, Lady Henrietta’s husband, Sam Flusky tells Adare he’d hoped other noblewomen would visit, so that Lady Henrietta could mingle with “her own sort”, since she was nobility in Ireland. 

Sam was the stableboy she ran away with. 

While the men are outside talking, Lady Henrietta is standing on the balcony above them.

She is barely conscious and not aware they are discussing her.

She is wearing is a gray nightgown with pink ties, and a pink robe, with layers of white frills across the bodice and sleeves.

Adare tells Sam he wants to help her get well, so they discuss how to get her interested in life again–maybe some horseback riding and new clothes…

What girl wouldn’t perk up at that?

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 / Ingrid Bergman Style: Outfit #3 – Day Gown & Lace Doily

The next outfit Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta wears is a floor length long sleeved purple dress and colorful paisley scarf. Her dress is accented at the collar with a jeweled brooch.

She apologizes to Adare for her behavior at the party, saying she was “Not herself,” to which Adare tells her she was very drunk. 

She is quite surprised, as if she didn’t know what was ailing her! She says, “No one has ever said that to me before.” 

She also asks if she was dressed, as she doesn’t remember, as it was like “one of those dreams.” 

Adare laughingly replies “more or less.”

Not your typical Ingrid Bergman style in Under Capricorn 1949!

Not your typical Ingrid Bergman style in Under Capricorn 1949!

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 Outfit #4 – Day Dress & Bonnet

As per plan, Adare helps Lady Henrietta shop for a new wardrobe.

He’s happy to see her slowly come to life again and take an interest in her appearance.

Apparently retail therapy has been effective for some time…

He proudly proclaims her outfit is the “First work of art I’ve ever done”. He then kisses her gently, which he says is for a respectable woman.

Full of resolve Lady Henrietta goes to the kitchen and tries to give orders to Millie, the head housekeeper, who deliberately humiliates her. 

This instantly shatters Lady Henrietta’s burgeoning confidence, and she rushes to her room in hysterics.   

Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta is wearing is a yellow dress and lace shawl. Her dress is decorated with layers of bows, lace, and… more roses, not to mention colored pom poms!!  To top off this dizzy combination, is a bright bon…

Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta is wearing is a yellow dress and lace shawl. Her dress is decorated with layers of bows, lace, and… more roses, not to mention colored pom poms!!  To top off this dizzy combination, is a bright bonnet. Not sure what kind of art Adare thinks he’s created!

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 Outfit #5 – Frilly Nightgown Variation 2

Under Capricorn 1949: Adare (Michael Wilding) kisses her (Ingrid Bergman) gently and tells her to dream of all of the wonderful things she’ll be doing soon.

Under Capricorn 1949: Adare (Michael Wilding) kisses her (Ingrid Bergman) gently and tells her to dream of all of the wonderful things she’ll be doing soon.

In her room, Lady Henrietta is lying in bed. There is a wine tumbler suspiciously on her table.

Convinced she is a failure, she begins to slip back into oblivion with alcohol.

Again, she’s wearing frilly nightgown. No surprise on the frills! 

Her hair falls in the natural 1940’s waves rather than the tight ringlets she is typically wearing in Under Capricorn, and it looks so much better!

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 Outfit #6 – Day Dress

The next outfit Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta wears is a floor length striped dress with billowing long sleeves, adorned with dramatic bows from the bodice to the floor.

Since her maid Millie took off in a huff, Lady Henrietta tentatively and calmly takes over the “crazy crowd” of misbehaving kitchen help who are ex-convicts. 

She dramatically throws away the whip that was used to beat them, and tells them there is to be no fighting or stealing.

For breakfast in a gothic mansion, Lady Henrietta (Ingrid Bergman) wears a fluffy dress with a lace doily.

For breakfast in a gothic mansion, Lady Henrietta (Ingrid Bergman) wears a fluffy dress with a lace doily.

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949

This dress that Lady Henrietta wears to the ball is closer to her typical Ingrid Bergman style

This dress that Lady Henrietta wears to the ball is closer to her typical Ingrid Bergman style

The next outfit Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta wears is a fitted beige ballgown, with lace and pearl accents. Her accessories? A simple tiara and pearl earrings! 

This is her best outfit in the movie. She looks stunning… just like a princess! 

She walks down the staircase with barely surprised excitement, asking her husband how she looks.

Her husband is hiding an expensive necklace of rubies, so he tells her he thinks it just needs rubies, to which clueless Adare says that it wouldn’t go with the dress, as she’d look like a Christmas tree!

She agrees; unaware of her husband’s intent.

So her husband sheepishly sneaks the necklace back into his pocket.

Her husband, Sam Flusky, is obsessed over the class differences between himself and Lady Henrietta and Adare.

He continually feels inferior, because he was the stable boy, who ran away with the nobleman’s daughter.

Millie returns to the house and poisons Flusky’s mind against Lady Henrietta and Adare, so Flusky sets after them in a fit of jealous rage. 

Lady Henrietta is just beginning to enjoy herself at the ball until her husband, spurred on by Millie’s tales, arrives and makes a huge scene.

Back at home, she reminisces on the past and her love for Sam and how their “lives are forever intertwined.”

She reveals that she shot her brother, but Sam Flusky took the blame and served seven years in the convict colony for her! 

Upon leaving, Sam Flusky and Adare have a scuffle, and Adare is accidentally shot by the pistol.

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 Outfit #8 – Stylish Travel Outfit

Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta wears is a dark gray traveling coat adorned with black bows and ribbons, and touches of pink.  Her matching bonnet is also pink, with ruffle and rose accents. 

Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta wears is a dark gray traveling coat adorned with black bows and ribbons, and touches of pink. Her matching bonnet is also pink, with ruffle and rose accents. 

Lady Henrietta waits for hours outside Adare’s sick room, hoping to see him.

The governor comes out and says that if Adare recovers, he will be sent back to Ireland in disgrace.

But, if he dies from the gunshot wound, then her husband will be hanged as a murderer, as this would be his second offense. 

Lady Henrietta confesses that she shot her own brother and Sam Flusky took the blame. 

When she arrives home, she tells her husband she confessed to the capital crime of killing her brother, and that she will be sent back to Ireland to stand trial.

However, her husband is still jealous, so he storms out of the room in a fury. 

Millie, rushes to the ‘rescue,’ telling her she looks ill, and suggests a drink. 

This drink initiates another horrible spiral of depression, sickness, and ‘horrors’ for Lady Henrietta.

 

Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 Outfit #9 – Another Frilly Nightgown and Robe

The next outfit Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Henrietta wears is a white frilly nightgown, covered by a light blue frilly robe. She is again confined to her bedroom. 

She screams for the horrors to go away. “It is there on the bed… always grinning at me!” Her husband shakes her and tells her that it’s all in her mind. 

After he leaves, she tiptoes to the bed and pulls back to the cover.

And what does she see?  …a horrible shrunken human head! She passes out.

While lying semi-comatose, the maid, Millie, hides the head and empties the entire bottle of sleeping draughts into a cup of booze.

Now we know why Lady Henrietta has been acting so strangely!

Millie walks towards her, “Now then Lady Henrietta, I’ve brought you something to drink… and then you can go to sleep. Drink it all down!”

Lady Henrietta screams for her husband and he comes running. 

The maid wanted her husband to hate her as a crazed hallucinating alcoholic. Afraid this tactic wasn’t producing results fast enough, Millie upped her game to sleeping drafts…a dose to that would put Lady Henrietta to sleep forever!

Millie wanted Sam Flusky for herself. 

Sam gathers his one and only love, Lady Henrietta, in his arms, as he realizes what has been going on…and how stupid his jealousy of Adare was.

This is familiar to another Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock movie where she is being poisoned, this time by her husband.

Other posts you might like:

7 Questions about Notorious 1946 and Does Alicia Die in the End of Notorious?

 

Joseph Cotten is finally revealed as not being a creepy husband in the the Hitchcock Movie Under Capricorn

Joseph Cotten is finally revealed as not being a creepy husband in the the Hitchcock Movie Under Capricorn

Under Capricorn Movie ending

Upon recovering from his gunshot wound, Adare collaborates that it was an accident, and he is sent back to Ireland.

Lady Henrietta and Sam Flusky wish him a fond farewell, and Adare tells Lady Henrietta that he’ll never forget her, as he has fallen in love with her.

Under Capricorn closes with Lady Henrietta fondly grasping her husband’s hands, a picture of deep love and friendship, finally restored.

 

This post was all about Ingrid Bergman Under Capricorn 1949 and her 9 Over-The-Top Outfits

What did you think of the Regency-era Ingrid Bergman style in Under Capricorn? Did you enjoy this Ingrid Bergman color film?

Inspired to buy that hair curler yet?

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Last updated: Sep 07, 2024

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