The Bostonians (1984)

The Bostonians on the whole is not among the best Merchant-Ivory films, like A Room with a View, Howard's End and especially The Remains of the Day, nor is it anywhere near The Innocents, The Wings of the Dove and particularly The Heiress as among the best Henry James adaptations. However, while it has its problems it is not a bad film and does laudably adapting a difficult work (even for an author that is notoriously difficult to adapt like James).Are there flaws here? Yes, there are. The changed ending is far too melodramatic and clumsily written as a (possible) attempt to make it accessible to modern audiences (maybe?), undermining any intellectual sensibility that the story or James beforehand show. While Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay fares very credibly mostly it doesn't come off completely successfully, the savage humour of the book is very toned down (in contrast to the somewhat lack of subtlety, pretty overt actually, in the writing of the Olive and Verena relationship, loved the tension between the two though) and sometimes absent which gives the film a bland feel sometimes, the characters are still very interesting and complex but lack the philosophical depth of the book and that final speech is so cornball and misplaced.Merchant-Ivory films always did have deliberate pacing, but more than made up for it with slightly more involving drama and characterisation and more consistent script-writing than seen here, sometimes The Bostonians moved along at a snail's pace which made the blander, less involving dramatically sections almost interminable. And despite being devilishly handsome and with the right amount of virile masculinity Christopher Reeve seemed completely out of his depth as Ransom, throughout he is stiff and although his character is unlikeable in the first place there is very little in Reeve's performance that makes it obvious what Olive and Verena see in him.However, there is much to admire as well. As always with a Merchant-Ivory film it is incredibly well-made, with truly luxuriant cinematography, exquisite settings and scenery and some of the most vivid costume design personally seen from a film recently. There is a beautiful music score as well that couldn't have fitted more ideally, and appropriately restrained direction from James Ivory, and while there were a few misgivings with the script Jhabvala actually adapts it very credibly. It's a very thought-provoking, elegantly written and literate script that has a good deal of emotional impact, it is not easy condensing James' very dense, wordy and actions-occurring-inside-characters'-heads prose to something cohesive for film but Jhabvala manages it with grace and intelligence on the most part. Again, pacing could have been tighter but the story is still very poignant and has a good degree of tension and emotion.Best of all is how beautifully played it is by a very good cast, apart from Reeve. Madeleine Potter does lack allure for Verena, but plays with gentle winsomeness, intelligence and sweet charm. In the supporting roles, Linda Hunt is dependably very good, Jessica Tandy is moving in her performance and (in particular) Nancy Marchand's verbal cat-and-mouse-game helps give the film some of its tension. Along with the cinematography and costumes, one of The Bostonians' best aspects is the towering performance of Vanessa Redgrave, Olive is more sympathetically written here and Redgrave brings a real intensity and affecting dignity to the role which makes for compulsive viewing.All in all, much to admire but also could have been better. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I have never thought much of James Ivory's direction and The Bostonians does little to change my mind. It was years ago I read the Henry James novel and I'm not one to criticise a film for not replicating the book,but I do recall the stupendous climax James achieved when Ransomemarched backstage at the Music Hall to literally carry Verena off. This has to be the climax of the film, but here it goes for nothing and makes less impact than the jeering audience. In too many other scenes points are similarly missed, the tone is misjudged and the pace is plodding. Nor is the acting distinguished except for Vanessa Redgrave who aims at an intensity that seems to belong to another (and better)film. One compensation is the camera work of Walter Lassally; but even here the carefully framed compositions don't flow.

I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but threw the DVD into the player for good luck. And I was pleasantly surprised.The very first thing I liked was the backdrop of the opening credits: hands and feet operating an organ, plus the resulting sound. (Two hours later I knew that anticipated a part of the final act).Then came more surprises - the setting in 1875 New England offered unusual sights, and mostly all in female-dominated surroundings. For a sensationalistic title, I thought of "Planet of the Women" - with a lone alien, Basil, playing his game in the middle.The basic story was of course not surprising: boy meets girl, they go through assorted troubles, finally girl escapes from captivity, they ride away together. I can't explain the chemistry between them, but that may be because "love" is no natural science. In any case, a strong mutual attraction was amply demonstrated.In contrast to most other movies, "eye-candy" women were rare, but then there were interesting types, like Dr. Prance and Miss Birdseye. Why Olive came to be how she was, remained a riddle to me.And then the dramatic final act in the music hall. Strong images that will stay in my memory - and I consider the main purpose of a movie to deliver strong images.Cost/benefit: most IMDb reviews are negative, and the movie was probably so unpopular that I could pick up a bargain DVD at the shop for 50 cents. Given that an empty DVD box costs 40 cents, the net price was 10 cents - and for me at least, it was worth it a hundred times :^)

I just finished reading Henry James' "The Bostonians," and though I found the book to be a fine read and rather effective in capturing the many waves of emotion that flow through its often unappealing characters, I can't say I was taken much with its mean-spirited and narrow satire. This three-sided love story involving a feminist spinster, her rather dim protégée and a Southern knucklehead (I'm simplifying wildly here) involved me more than it should have, yet it left a bad the taste in my mouth. What is one to make of a tale in which two of the most vulnerable characters are left wounded by the "hero" (Olive Chancellor in the present, Verena Tarrant in the future) and noble ideals are trounced by bigotry, brutism and misogyny? The author's phobic attitude toward the "Boston Marriage" of the two heroines seems to mirror that of the southern chauvinist Basil Ransom (which is offputting) and the book never quite recovers from thoroughly humanizing the doomed females while setting them up to be trounced by the Great White Male. Given that I found the book to have such objectionable themes, I probably should have stayed away from the film, but since movies have a long history of "free adaptations" of novels, I though that perhaps the film version of "The Bostonians" might give some form and direction to James' sometimes overwritten, anti-feminist jeremiad.Well, I should have left well enough alone. The film is slavishly faithful to the book in all the wrong ways – LOTS of talking, VERY leisurely –and never manages to improve upon its flaws. Vanessa Redgrave is rather remarkable, as is Linda Hunt, but everybody else comes off sorely lacking, especially poor Christopher Reeve who tries to be dashing but makes Ransom even more odious than in the book (which I didn't think possible). Scenes start and end with so little dramatic flow -or sense- that I really wonder what I would have made of the film had I not read the book (I don't think any of the behaviors of the characters would have made the least bit of sense). Though a weak attempt is made to make the ending less sexist than in the book, it's a case of too little, too late. "The Bostonians" still remains a politically offensive minor effort easily overlooked because it also commits the crime of being dull.