The Portrait
Of A Lady (1996)
romantic drama
directed
by : Jane Campion
featuring
: Nicole Kidman - John Malkovich - Barbara Hershey - Mary Louise Parker
- Martin Donovan
running
time : 2 hour 24 minutes
Jane Campion directed this expressive adaptation
of the classic novel by Henry James. Isabel Archer (Nicole Kidman) is a
young American woman who, after the death of her parents, has been sent
to England to visit relatives. While her family's tragedy has left her
penniless, Isabel's beauty has earned her the attentions of a number of
eligible men. When Isabel turns down a proposal of marriage from the wealthy
Lord Warburton (Richard E.Grant) because she does not love him, her cousin
Ralph (Martin Donovan), who is also smitten with her, arranges for his
father to leave her a fortune before succumbing to tuberculosis so that
she may live as an independent woman. Isabel takes a tour of Europe, where
she meets Madame Merle (Barbara Hershey), a jaded sophisticate and matchmaker
who introduces her to Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich), a widowed American
artist living abroad. Isabel falls in love with Gilbert and they marry,
but his sloth and opportunism soon begin to wear on her, and three years
later she is desperate to get out of their relationship. The Portrait Of
A Lady also stars John Gelgud, Mary Louise Parker, Christian Bale, and
Shelley Winters.
Given The Piano's singular period
story about an independent-minded woman, it is not surprising that Campion's
stylized version of Henry James' The Portrait Of A Lady (1996) is more
of an interpretation rather than an adaptation. With an opening montage
of modern women, Campion and screenwriter Laura Jones stake a claim to
the contemporary resonance in the story of naïve American heiress
Isabel Archer. Injecting moments of surreal fantasy into the beautifully
expressive, blue-tinged period surroundings, Campion alludes to the cravings
that provoke Isabel to reject a safe marriage in favor of freedom. Why
Isabel is easily seduced by the scheming Mme. Merle and the reptilian fortune
hunter Osmond, however, remains elusive;Malkovich's transparently malevolent
Osmond makes Kidman's Isabel an inexplicable fool for love. Still, Hershey's
complex Mme. Merle speaks to the damage inflicted on women by an oppressive
social order, while Donovan's eloquently restrained cousin Ralph powerfully
attests to what might have been for Isabel. Provoking a deeply mixed response,
The Portrait Of A Lady failed to repeat The Piano's success, though the
costumes and Hershey's performance earned Oscar nominations.