The Portrait of a Lady

Director: Jane Campion Jane Campion

Overview

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 Gielgud, Mary-Louise Parker, Christian Bale, and Shelley Winters.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/23/2016
UPC:	0025192096358
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Language:	English
Time:	2:24:00
Sales rank:	3,731

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Nicole Kidman	Isabel Archer
John Malkovich	Gilbert Osmond
Barbara Hershey	Madame Serena Merle
Mary-Louise Parker	Henrietta Stackpole,Actor
Martin Donovan	Ralph Touchett
Shelley Winters	Mrs. Touchett
Richard E. Grant	Lord Warburton
Shelley Duvall	Countess Gemini
Christian Bale	Edward Rosier
Viggo Mortensen	Caspar Goodwood
Valentina Cervi	Pansy Osmond
John Gielgud	Mr. Touchett
Roger Ashton-Griffiths	Bob Bantling
Catherine Zago	Mother Superior
Alessandra Vanzi	Nun No. 2
Katie Campbell	Miss Molyneux No. 1
Katherine Anne Porter	Miss Molyneux No. 2
Eddy Seager	Strongman's Spruiker
Pat Roach	Strongman
Emanuelle Carucci Viterbi	Roccanera Butler
Francesca Bartellini	Isabel's Maid
Achille Brugnini	Footman at Ballroom
Amy Lindsay	Miss Molyneux #1
Emanuele Carucci Viterbi	Roccanera Butler
Wojciech Kilar	Composer
Franz Schubert	Composer

Technical Credits

Jane Campion

Henry James

Laura Jones

Jane Campion	Director,Screenwriter
Beth Charkham	Casting
Steve Golin	Producer
Monty Montgomery	Producer
Henry James	Screenwriter
Ann Wingate	Producer
Laura Jones	Screenwriter
Martin Body	Special Effects
Gethin Creagh	Sound Effects
Robert Deschaine	Sound Effects
Peter Glossop	Sound Effects,Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Bronwen Gower	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Jane Campion (The Piano) is one of cinema's most extraordinary stylists, a fact that is nowhere more clearly displayed than in this gorgeous adaptation of the great Henry James novel. Boldly cinematic, even experimental in her approach to this ultra-literary material, Campion stamps her signature on every shot of the film, making James's heartbreaking tale of shattered illusions utterly her own. Nicole Kidman is equally superb in her performance as Isabel Archer, a wealthy young American who arrives on the Continent with vague dreams of forging a unique place for herself in the world. Instead, she opts for marriage to a seductive sophisticate (John Malkovich). Kidman effectively portrays Isabel's slide from youthful ambition to compromised resignation, making her all-too-familiar passage believable and touching. She receives strong support from the rest of the cast, especially Barbara Hershey's tragic voluptuary and Christian Bale's fevered romantic. In the end, though, Portrait of a Lady is dominated by Campion's and cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh's unforgettable imagery. The use of color is particularly striking; in a film composed largely of muted grays, browns and dark blues, the heroine's brief period of happiness is highlighted by a burst of rainbow hues. Like its source material, Campion's vivid Portrait of a Lady avoids neat resolutions, leaving viewers with haunting impressions that linger long after the movie is over.

Barnes & Noble - Amy Robinson

Given The Piano's singular period story about an independent-minded woman, it is not surprising that Jane 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; John Malkovich's transparently malevolent Osmond makes Nicole Kidman's Isabel an inexplicable fool for love. Still, Barbara Hershey's complex Mme. Merle speaks to the damage inflicted on women by an oppressive social order, while Martin 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.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola