Portrait of a Lady
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VHS Movie Reviews of Portrait of a Lady
Movie Review: Brilliant work, indeed
Summary: 5 Stars
I would just like to ad one more voice or vote to the number of people who found this film truly brilliant. Its stunning photography, actors' work and much debated SLOWNESS (very atypical to American movies indeed) manage to build up and produce true drama. A drama in which much is told by not saying much at all. If you manage to get yourself deep into the mood of the film, you will be surprised about its emotional intensity. And - about so sad, yet so lifted feeling at the end.Movie Review: What Have They Done to My Song Ma?
Summary: 2 Stars
Splendiferous photography and state-of-the-art talent are throroughly wasted in this pretentious and often head-numbingly unexciting yet tediously overwrought rendition of a challenging novel. Did you like the first sentence of this review? If so, maybe YOU will like this movie. I was eager to see this film from the moment it came out. But this mauling of the James story was so dull that I was barely able to finish watching it. I just kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. Sometimes slow is good. But not in this case. Campion is too interested in creating a directorial aura to care about telling a story in an interesting manner.Movie Review: The most boring film I've seen in months
Summary: 2 Stars
Although Nicole Kidman and John Malkovich have a superb performance in this film (that's where my 2 stars go) I almost got asleep watching it. None of my friends who watched the film could stay awake. It just drags on forever. I imagine all films based on a Henry James novel have the same weakness. I guess one has to have a developed taste for such films.Movie Review: Portrait Of A Lady In A Swift Carriage Of A Dark Night
Summary: 5 Stars
Two themes characterize Henry James' novels and are wonderfully rendered in this film: they are fortune hunting and the depiction of wealthy guileless naive Americans in the hands of sophisticated wordly Europeans. Isabel Archer is such a creation, an American transplant to England exploring her self and future, and full of beauty and promise. At the outset she rejects Lord Warburton, the man who should be perfect for her, so she can find her 'self' and let light into her soul. "I am very fond of my liberty...I wish to choose my fate" she tells her cousin, Ralph Touchett who also is in love with her. Isabel's idea of happiness is a romantic journey into the unknown, "A swift carriage ride, of a dark night..." She appears to be independent and full of purpose, but Isabel is also an innocent with a streak of sensuality in her being. In her naivete' she mistakes the heartless Gilbert Osmund's sensual indulgments for refinement and is captivated by him, while he determines to possess her for her money. The marriage is a disaster for Isabel whose world becomes darker and progressively more oppressive. At last the mortal illness of her cousin, Ralph, allows her to escape Osmund and go back to England. Now all has come full circle, she is older, wiser, she meets again another ex-suitor, Casper Goodwood. He pleads with her to leave Osmund and make a new life for herself with him. She is back at the moment where it all began and she can start over, she has only to make the choice.
It is not only Henry James plot but the way director Campion presents it that makes this film great and utterly intriguing with every viewing. Nichole Kidman presents a marvelous performance of a woman pursuing not only her vision but also struggling with forces within herself and around her that she, at first, doesn't understand. Kidman is the perfect foil for John Malkovich's superb portrayal of Osmund, a shallow sinister dilettante who manipulates Isabel, his daughter, and his ex-mistress like objects. In Campion's settings the lighting of the opulent surroundings dims as Isabel's world closes about her. In the final scene she makes her choice and turns away from the welcoming warmth of Casper Goodwood's world; she chooses to remain out in the cold. She's not stupid. She's no longer innocent, but she rejects the light for the dark and returns to her abuser. Why?
In her rejection of one promising suitor after another, men who are clearly devoted to her, Isabel reveals that engulfing love terrifies her because it will destroy her independence. The only man she can totally give her love to is her cousin Ralph Touchett, on his deathbed, since she will be free again after he dies. We see also in her early fantasy of a threesome with her suitors that there is a strong element of sensuality in her persona that Osmund perceives and exploits, even to the degree that she is roused as he abuses her. Certainly Osmund doesn't love her. She now knows she is nothing but an ornamental bankroll in his shallow world so she no longer has to surrender her independence to him. Yet she returns to him because he challenges her in ways that other suitors never could, and in this Isabel emerges as the most subtle, complex, courageous, and triumphant persona of all.
In fact Henry James modeled Isabel Archer after his patroness, Isabella Stuart Gardner, whose life is revealed in Douglass Shand-Tucci's biography, "The Art Of Scandal".
Movie Review: campion has made me one big fan
Summary: 4 Stars
Jane Campion razzle dazzled me with The Piano. Now, this movie comes along and made me a permanent fan of hers. The acting was of superb quality, especially Malkovich's. It's inspired me so much so that i've decided to read the book.