Portrait of a Lady

From the very first second to the very last i was totally transfixed. The acting in this movie is flawless and brilliant. Nicole does incredibly well as a young naive woman who finds she is uncapable of sticking to the same decision. I found myself rising up as if to defend her in her time of greatest need, when she was being emotionally and physically abused by her husband. As sad as the beginning may be, lots of tears, lots of building emotion and desperation to be loved, the ending made me breath a sigh of relief for Isabelle Archer. She'd found herself trapped and managed to set herself free again.I HAVE to comment on the documentary included. It gives a closer look at the actors and let me tell you, it looked difficult. In preperation for her abusive scenes you see Nicole crying and frustrated and beating herself up. It compelled me almost as much as the film! If you buy this dvd (you must) then make sure to watch this bonus feature, you will realise that the life of an actor is not all it's cracked up to be.Over all, a compelling and beautiful piece of drama.

This 1996 adaptation of the book tells the story of Isabel Archer [Nicole Kidman], an naive young woman of independent means who refuses marriage in order to discover ‘life’ and heads for England in 1872, but is pursued by two suitors. At the base of it all is the human craving for monetary gain –especially marriage for wealth not love, a trend Isabel appears to be trying to flee from but ends up becoming ensnared in when her wealthy uncle dies, leaving her a small fortune. Isabel is a bit of a dreamer and fantasist, soon falling under the influence of her new older and more worldly new ‘friend’ Madame Merle [Barbara Hershey] and the devious rapscallion Gilbert Osmond [John Malkovich]. Can Isabel maintain her independence and free-will or will she capitulate to social norms?With a star studded cast this promises much but at almost 2½ hours in length the slow pace and stage theatre feel is somewhat long [lose a *]. Much of the settings are dark and dingy, adding to the oppressive atmosphere, as even the romantic settings they find themselves in are often miserable, but the 5.1 surround sound is truly inspired in some scenes, especially corridors and cavernous buildings.The single disc opens to a 6 language choice screen, which then goes to main menu offering play, scene selection, onus material [trailer and a documentary], audio languages [4 choices, English, French, castellano and Italian] and subtitle languages [English, deaf and hard of hearing, French, Italian, Castellano, Portuguese and Netherlands].As a miniseries it would work, but not as a long film, requiring a 45 minute trim. If you can stick with it, it is a great story, although quite obvious, and I’d like to give more than *** but found it dragged out and too ‘arty’ in approach.

Jane Campion transposed one of Henry James' best novels into a formidable masterpiece.She captured luminously the author's main themes: money and love, Puritanism, innocence and survival.A gift of a fortune by an uncle to a young lady turns into a nightmare: money doesn't buy happiness.She becomes the target of those who need the money for their own `standing' and the survival of their offspring (daughter).Another main theme of Henry James is Puritanism: the rejection of the `physical' body. The innocent lady is captured through the discovery of physical contact, here, a French kiss. It overwhelms her completely and she gets entangled in a web of lies, hard plays of domination and subtle intrigues in order to keep her former admirers at bay. She stays blind for the `real' world of true affections until she is confronted with naked and shattering facts.The performance of the cast (Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey and others) is simply sublime. Rarely have difficult expressions in harsh and deeply pure or malignant emotional confrontations so intensely been interpreted.A must see.

I loved the Henry James novel but felt that Nicole Kidman was miscast as Isobel Archer. She interpreted the role with too much coldness for me. In contrast, John Malkovich was perfect. The film is beautifully shot, using lovely locations and excellent direction. I just couldn't help feeling disappointed at this interpretation of a fabulous novel. The ending is abrupt and didn't explain the full reasons for Isobel's decision to return to her unhappy marriage. The DVD has very few extras. There is an interesting behind-the-scenes documentary, but that's about it.

Beautifully acted and directed also faithful to the book, though a little more explicit than up tight Henry James. All in all a pleasure in spite of the enigmatic ending but that's in the book too and it would have shown a lack of courage to produce a happy end or even an unhappy one.

Goods excellent - fast delivery

Kidman is very good as Isobel Archer and shows she can act. Some of the direction I found slightly irritating. Good performances all round. Generally true to the novel, certainly to its spirit.

I got this as soon as I had finished the book. I really liked the novel right up until the ending, which I found very hard to understand! However maybe that's just my modern perspective. Jane Campion tries to relate Isabel Archer to modern young women in the title sequence, where lots of contemporary women are seen hanging around, dancing or talking etc. Isabel Archer was trapped by her time though; as much as she was an intelligent and free spirited woman, in the end she just gave in to acting as society demanded of her. I thought the film was very slow despite some good performances. The cast were largely very well suited to their roles. In a way the film itself seems dated as a product of the 1990s, which maybe doesn't help my view of it. It is very dark to look at as other reviewers have said and just really really slow. Maybe it would be hard to make a more dynamic version of this book but I can't say I enjoyed watching it.