The Portrait of a Lady

We picked up the two tape boxed set of this show at a garage sale for a bargain two bucks and started watching it that night. It seemed stiff and stolid until I realiized... The characters are stage acting, with exagerated body language and strong voice projection. Thats understandable when you realize the program was done in 1968, the early days of this sort of TV project. But once you wrap your mind around this fact and start watching it as a stage play rather than a TV drama, it becomes most enjoyable, a classic British drawing room drama. 1968 was almost 40 years ago, yet the program (if not all its performers) has aged well. The technical quality of the colour and image is excellent. The production techniques and sets are, if anything, refreshing in their lack of gimmickry. A confession... This is written after watching only the first of the two tapes. Four hours is a bit much for anything other than a Wagnerian opera. But I eagerly look forward to the second half tonight!

I couldn't even get halfway through the Nicole Kidman fiasco, so I was glad to find this series, and even happier to discover the great Richard Chamberlain (whom I saw in person, BTW) in an early role. He was excellent as the heroine's Cousin Ralph, and so was Suzanne Neve, as Isabel Archer, the young heiress (thanks to her uncle's timely demise) who longs to be free of convention and live life on her own terms, but who - ironically - gets herself bound by marriage to the wrong man, in a life she feels is no longer her own. She finds she can't so easily escape either duty (to her marriage vows) nor responsibility (to the stepdaughter who needs her).

Even more ironic, is her early decision to avoid marriage, despite her feelings for Casper Goodwood (Ed Bishop), because she longs to be free, to travel, find herself and what she really wants, even if it shouldn't bring her happiness in the long run. And yet she ends up agreeing to marry an older man, (Gilbert Osmond, played by James Maxwell) whom she shares an interest in art with, without any particular emotional attachment, apparently okay with relinquishing the freedom she was so gung-ho on.

I think she was really frightened of feeling anything profound, like love or desire, scared it would make her too vulnerable, so instead she chooses a more aesthetic relationship, which wouldn't threaten her sense of self. In short, she prefers the 'lie-there-and-think-of-England" type of marriage, to one with orgasms.

More ironic still, is the way the suitors she rejected keep turning up, one like a bad penny (Edward fox as Lord Warburton, who pursues her stepdaughter for reasons other than affection), the other (Casper) to remind her what she's thrown away.

She wanted freedom, yet put herself in a cage, and isn't sure she can accept the key.

It is highly recommended watching these series together with reading the novel. The story is basically indoors so it has the atmosphere of a play. However the book contains some outdoor activities in London, Florence and Rome. They were missed completely. Because of this the movie doesn't come alive as for instance 'A room with a view' does which has basically the same settings. Much attention is given to interior decorating and costumes. They are worth watching on their own. In close up scenes it was visible that large amounts of grime were there. That gave even more a sense of watching a play. In the end a crucial scene was completely lost in the movie that I won't spoil. For me Pansy was the true hero of the movie more so than in the book because of her acting so wistful.

It is true that the style of this production seems very dated now, but it was an immense success in the UK when it was first shown. Richard Chamberlain was at the time chiefly famous for the Dr Kildare series, and scarcely thought of as an actor. But his intensely moving performance as Ralph Touchett was a revelation, and received the highest praise from the critics. Television stars of the time, when they attempted something more ambitious, talked about 'doing a Richard Chamberlain'. Probably as a result of his performance, soon afterwards he played Hamlet on stage and on TV.

First and foremost, I must praise the screenplay by Jack ('I, Claudius') Pulman, which captures James' world so perfectly. James has a remarkably unsentimental view of his characters, presenting his 'heroes' and 'villains' in equally fascinating shades of grey. Beatrix Lehmann and Kathleen ('Black Narcissus') Byron are marvellous as two of the 'good' characters who take no trouble to be liked (cf Rachel Gurney's charming Madame Merle)- perhaps James Maxwell's 'villain' needs to be a little more charming if we are not to take Isabel for a fool. Perhaps also Suzanne Neve is a little opaque as Isabel - but that's almost the point. Richard Chamberlain and Edward Fox are both excellent as her lordly suitor and sickly cousin and benefactor respectively. True, the studio-bound video camerawork looks dated - this was a very early colour production - and I quickly stopped remarking on it. And as a James fan who's sat through numerous glossy film adaptations which got nowhere near his wonderfully ambiguous heart, the reissue of this version on BBC Video is a cause for celebration - I've watched it at least three times, and enjoyed it more each time. Can we now have Pulman's 'The Golden Bowl', please?