MANILA, Philippines—There’s much to admire in “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond,” actress-turned-director Jodie Markell’s take on a heretofore unproduced Tennessee Williams screenplay.

For one, it’s nice to look at, with romantic shots of crumbling plantation buildings, weeping willows, ancient oaks veiled with Spanish moss, and women floating around in long, shimmery flapper dresses. Set in Memphis in the 1920s, the film evokes the courtly, moribund feel of the Old South, familiar territory to fans of Tennessee Williams.

Archetype

Then, there’s the cast: The movie stars Bryce Dallas Howard as Fisher Willow, a Paris-educated Memphis socialite who strains against the conventions of a society still living in the past. Intense in bobbed black hair and Southern accent, she dominates the screen whenever she’s in a scene—and, she’s in many of them, thankfully enough. Her performance is textured and finely nuanced, adding depth to a character that, for a less-gifted actress, would have turned out to be too much of a caricature of Williams’ archetype of a rebellious Southern belle.

Fisher is out of place in Memphis, and not just because of her European education and outspoken character. Her father—a shadowy figure who makes his one and only appearance at the beginning of the film—had blown up a levee, resulting in devastating floods to plantations downriver, as well as the deaths of sharecroppers. Fisher is almost an outcast because of this, saved only from complete exclusion by the fact that her family is filthy rich.

Fisher decides to make her ordeal more bearable by enlisting the services of Jimmy Dobyne (Chris Evans) as her escort. Impoverished but apparently of good enough social standing (there’s a governor in the family tree), Jimmy squires her around, and it soon becomes apparent that she has feelings for him.

The whole thing has its climax (if you can call it that, given the oh-so-measured pace) at a Halloween party, where Fisher loses one of her teardrop diamond earrings, and suspicion inadvertently falls on Jimmy.

Chris Evans, who’s known to audiences as the Human Torch in the “Fantastic Four” franchise, acquits himself well—initially. As the film unfolds, however, he proves unequal to the task of fleshing out his character, who is a two-note tune compared to Howard’s more intricate melody. It’s partly due to his being a less seasoned actor and also because the script as a whole feels unfinished, as though Jimmy, Fisher and the rest of the characters are still in the process of being sketched out.

Script

Williams wrote “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond” in the 1950s, and the script was found after his death a few decades later. It’s purely speculative to say that he probably wasn’t done with it yet, but it certainly feels that way.

As it is, the movie is photographed and acted well enough to engage viewers’ attention and even rouse sympathy for its protagonists, especially for Howard’s character—but, you leave the cinema wanting more.