Charles Cavendish

The Governess In the 1840's a gentleman scientist named Charles Cavendish (Tom Wilkinson) and his daughter's governess, Rosina da Silva (Minnie Driver, left), freeze their passionate affair in ''salt fixed'' photographs. But around them all is change. From an affluent family of Sephardic Jews who lost their money after her father was murdered, the

MINNIE DRIVER is equally at home telling an off-color joke or spelling Aeschylus correctly on a crossword puzzle, as she did recently in a rare moment of repose at a midtown Manhattan hotel. The 27-year-old British actress, who has made a career for herself in the United States in hit movies like ''Big Night,'' ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' and ''Good