Nora

I've read some of the comments pro and con already made on this movie and am glad some viewers liked it. I thought it very fine indeed, but agree that some prior knowledge of James Joyce, his life and work, is helpful. Joyce's writing is not a bore, as some of the comments suggest. The story "The Dead," from Joyce's collection "Dubliners," is one of the great short stories in English literature. It is referrd to several times in this film. (Incidentally, "The Dead" has been made into a film also.) The time of the film "Nora", when Joyce was trying to find a publisher for "Dubliners", was well before the writing of his great work, "Ulysses". It was a time when Joyce and Nora Barnacle had a stormy relationship, but nevertheless were deeply in love and had a lusty relationship with each other. This is well depicted in the movie, beginning with their first date, when Nora surprises and delights Joyce with her bold advances. Ewan McGregor and Susan Lynch play these scenes with high professional skill, helping us to really understand the delight these two people had in a physical relationship. Their love is an up and down affair but endures. McGregor is a fine actor who always give 100% in whatever his role may be and in "Nora" he does not disappoint. I was struck by the way he squinted occasionally, just as Joyce must have done with his terrible eyesight, which even in these early years had begun to deteriorate badly. Susan Lynch is new to me and very convincing as the servant girl from the Irish countryside who kept up to the challenges of life with a great intellectual. One objection: I viewed this film on DVD and was unhappy that there are no captions for the hard of hearing--or for those who have trouble with Irish brogues!! There were a couple of the Trieste scenes where Italian conversation did have English language captions. A great relief! But is it really too great an expense for DVD producers to routinely include the caption option?

This movie can only be understood or appreciated for those familiar with James Joyce's work. The movie is extremely similar to Joyce's lyrical structure. The chapters of his books usually begin abruptly without any explanation. This might explain why the movie seems choppy. The director was obviously trying to mirror Joyce's style. I did not like the movie at first, but after i had read one of his books, I came to understand the movie. However, for cinematic purposes and for the well-being of audiences, the director should have at least explained how Nora affected James more convincingly. I had to look up in the internet on their conflict.

Overall, the movie was good. They could have deleted some the overwhelmingly repetitious scenes (if you have watched it, you will know what i mean). In turn, they should have replaced it with more scenes that discussed the conflicts.

Ewan McGregor, at almost 30, is playing a 22 year old James Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) from the moment Joyce meets Nora in Dublin, his future companion and later in life wife and mother of his 2 children. The movie depicts only the first 5-7 years of their tumultuous, tempestuous, sexually charged, possessive and jealousy filled relationship. It is the time when Joyce was struggling to get his novel 'Dubliners' printed which eventually did happen in 1914. It is the story of the young couple's self-imposed exile to the continent: to Trieste, today in Italy. The dramatisation is influenced by Joyce's short story 'The Dead' which is a novelette about a married couple. A passionate costume drama, but at times quite melancholic which is underlined by the dim/sepia cinematography.

Not many literary references of his published work however insight into the lovers erotic correspondence, the epistolary 'love-making' they had when ever they were separated. I thought that was extremely stimulating! Therefore, I decided to read Joyce's love-letters-to- Nora, rather than re-trying for the Xth time 'Ulysses' which I somehow never manage to finish.

Ewan McGregor is sincerely a brilliant actor, and as a Scotsman he pretty much fooled me with his strong Irish accent, but then again, there were moments, I would have loved to have English subtitles for my own untrained ears.

Historically accurate, biographically a bit amputated, but that only hardcore Joyce's fans will notice.

Verbally and visually the movie is sexually explicit, so for me it's 18+.

This is a movie for anyone who read Joyce or is into emotionally charged period dramas. —

It will not be difficult to find large numbers of enthusiasts in the literature departments of your local university who will state under oath that James Joyce was one of the greatest creative geniuses in human history. Something about his biography can for instance be found in the books by Richard Ellman or Fritz Senn, two Joyce specialists who devoted their lives to the study of his work. His work is not dull, as some commentators here were suspecting, but it's also not a collection of one-liners. Actually, it's hard to find more challenging mind-bogglers that are also considered literary classics than some of Joyce's work. I must say that for those who hoped to learn something about 'James', 'Nora' has as much to offer as 'Bilitis' about Einstein. If you forget about the names of the protagonists in this film, it goes through as a somewhat entertaining writer-lover romance. But to honestly attribute Joyce's name to this semi-sofporn is quite off the mark. And as to the question on my title line, the answer is: I honestly don't know.

I bought this DVD, expecting the always fascinating work of Ewan Mcgregor. When I watched it, I was interested in the characters, wanting to know more. By the end of the film I was disappointed in the story line. They were together, then they weren't. He couldn't live with out her and all is happy again. It was two people that were the perfect couple but were absolutely horrible for each other. I did like the fact that it ended with a laugh, though.