SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

lukechong There are good things in Jane Campion's 1996 film "The Portrait of a Lady", and moments of cinematic magic, but somehow the movie becomes more conventional as the running time went on and the film ends up as an unabashedly feminist but also romanticized adaptation of Henry James's great classic novel.James is probably the most difficult of novelists to get right on screen, and this movie doesn't do him complete justice. Even so, I would have appreciated an individual slant on the novel, a cinematic take if it all but illuminates just one single aspect of the book. Unfortunately, the movie turns out to be not for the book purists/junkies, mainly because the casting has gone so horribly wrong.Nicole Kidman is an odd choice for Isabel Archer, more vulnerable and uncertain, less fresh and adventurous than in the book, full of latent sexual desires, which isn't inherently a bad thing to emphasize in the script, but Kidman is too hesitant and generally uninspired in the role. British thespian Sir John Gielgud has a very small part, really too small to make a deep impression, while John Malkovich -- what can I say -- is completely miscast, playing the villain with an irritating, bored, self-conscious effeteness that is totally wrong in the Europeanized American Gilbert Osmond. Neither does Martin Donovan seem at home as the consumptive Ralph, and Barbara Hershey is probably the best of the lot but has too little material to work on. The actors often seem lost owing to a lack of clear direction in acting, and the great revelation scenes don't work well, mainly because screenwriter has revealed everything even before the midway juncture of the film.What, otherwise, does one watch this movie for? The cinematography is stellar, with chiaroscuro effects at times reminiscent of Old Masters paintings, and the interplay of light and shade reminds us that Campion has a background in visual arts. Stuart Dryburgh deserves a Oscar nomination at least for this movie. Some of his lensing takes one's breath away. The art direction too is exemplary. Campion isn't a director to be dismissed easily, and there are scenes which work exceptionally well, particularly in the earlier parts, although the film becomes progressively more conventional and seems to have lost interest in itself as its runtime goes on. In the last resort this is a movie which is deeply flawed, mainly due to the miscasting, but still worth catching, maybe but once, for its exceptional cinematography and at times brilliant imagery. But be warned about the adaptation - it's not really for serious lovers of the novel but more for cinephiles who don't demand a script- and cast-perfect take on the silver screen.

webber-george This is a very interesting film, there is for sure a hint of sexual repression in it, but I think that's true of all of the Director (Campion's) films. Given the script, Nicole Kidman has a standout performance, I just think that the director didn't get the absolute best out of her, with her character somewhat lacking in belief. Her character just doesn't seem as believable as she could. Perhaps this is because the Director didn't allow enough time for Kidman's character to evolve from an innocent to a cold corrupted woman.Its for this lack of character development I felt I couldn't give the film more than a 6. There is just something lacking - almost chopped out of the film. a simple 3 years later isn't good enough explanation for such a dramatic change in character. In addition I feel there is no formal ending to the story. The production and cinematography give this film a higher rating that it might of otherwise got.Not bad but could have been better.

TheScholarGypsy This film is well-made, but there is a severity or coldness about it which is false to the temperament of the novel by Henry James on which it is based. Not so much in the portrayal of Gilbert Osmund by John Malkovich (although he brings to it his trademark air of sick malevolence, it seems excessive, not quite in key, even for the evil Gilbert Osmund), but very much so in the manner in which the heroine, Isabel Archer, is represented. In the novel she is a creature of passion; in the film, she is quite rightly adrift (true to the original) but altogether too much in the manner of an iceberg off the English coast rather than as an American "jeune fille" in sunny Italy. What passion she is given has a tortuous, fantastic character, represented by skewed hallucinations rather than by the robust erotic musings of innocent naiveté.Consequently, the movie ambles along, technically perfect but ultimately boring. Characters who appear to be bored and indifferent to their own lives not surprisingly fail to rouse in the audience any compensating interest. Ironically, it is given to the veteran actor John Gielgud (albeit perhaps unwittingly) to pronounce judgment upon this film in his character's dying scene: as Isabel fixes upon him an intent gaze, rapt with the serious business of grasping to her bosom a pearl of wisdom from this aged man poised on the brink of his ultimate odyssey, Gielgud emits as his final word-to-the-wise an elaborate yawn. In this curious version of James's energetic novel even death is a bore.

kris-oak I must say this first: Jane Campion is one of my absolute favorite directors and this is her most thoroughly worked-through piece of film yet and perhaps even her best film. (She has only had one failure and that was In the Cut, which instead was really bad.)Saying this it goes without saying that i am astonished over the low rating on this movie, here at IMDb; it just tells you in the end that you can never be sure on what other people feel.The Portrait of Lady, based on the brilliant 19C novel by Henry James, tells the story of a young orphaned woman, Isabelle Archer, who is taken under the wing by an aunt and later an uncle and a cousin, and brought to Europe. Being a woman "fond of her own ways" and her personal freedom, Isabelle guards her future very well; she declines a couple of favorable marriages in favour of her own independence. As she inherits money and becomes self sufficient, she travels through Europe and soon comes to realize that independence is quite a hard position to guard, and far more difficult to manage that in real life than just having the young persons idea of it. Her travels becomes a journey of maturity and struggle with herself.What James novel so brilliantly exhibits is the mechanics of a mind of a young person, even a person of any age; and James does this so balanced.Campions film in turn, takes on the essentials from the novel, drags it through a bit of Freud and end up with a version that transcends the barriers of time, up to our days. What Campion succeeds with is to modernize the novel; make it more accessible to a modern audience; and in the end, to portray what another costume piece did, Orlando; transcendence.She does so with a brilliant cast (amaze yourself over the actors involved above!!) with Nicole Kidman in the lead as Isabelle. Others, to mention a few is Martin Donovan as her cousin Ralph, Richard E Grant as Lord Warbuton (like cut from the from the novel!! Brilliant!!), John Malkoviich as Osmond, Barbara Hershey as Madame Merle and John Gielgod (also brilliant here; so downplayed). All actors are brilliant, mentioned or not.Although I really like Marin Donovan, who I think is a much neglected actor, it would have been interesting to see Malkovich as the consumptive cousin Ralph; the part was originally offered to him but got lost somewhere...).Campion also have the magnificent help of cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, who makes it possible to to render the movie its pictorial qualities, and in the end its total art impression, instead of just a costume drama.Personally I like the Piano but it is reportedly to be only a prior sketch to this one.My recommendation is SEE IT, no matter what judgment has been passed on it on these pages.