THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701180086
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 72 lines
HERE'S SOME advice for Isabel Archer, the heroine of Jane Campion's film ``The Portrait of a Lady'': Start all over again, girl. Get a life.
As for the rest of us, we need to get a movie. And not this one.
Under the manipulation of the pretentious and vague Campion, Isabel wallows in her own stubborn fantasies - and keeps us squirming in our theater seats for close to two and one-half hours. You might say that Victorian repression keeps poor naive Isabel from fleeing the oppressive and boorish Gilbert Osmond, but Campion does little to suggest this, leaving modern audiences to question, more than once, ``Why doesn't she just walk out?'' After all, Isabel has all the money in the marriage.
You can't really blame the dullness of this movie on Henry James, the novelist. His books have yielded several good movies (``The Bostonians,'' ``The Innocents'') and one great movie (``The Heiress''). For ``The Heiress,'' Olivia de Havilland won a much-deserved Academy Award. For over a year, speculation has been that Nicole Kidman, seeking fervently to escape the shadow of her famous husband Tom Cruise, would be a major Oscar contender for ``The Portrait of a Lady.'' Kidman can be a colorful and flamboyant actress, as was evidenced by her memorable playing in ``To Die For.'' One suspects that director Campion is responsible for her stiffing the role here.
Isabel Archer is, we are told, an independent and clever woman. She turns down numerous proposals from handsome and wealthy suitors, only to accept a surly fortune hunter, played by John Malkovich. Once she's stuck with him, she stubbornly insists upon staying. The audience is asked to fill in all the gaps, which are many.
The only way we can explain Isabel, especially with the skimpy evidence we're given, is that she is obsessed with Osmond to the point that she can't see his faults. She believes that if he doesn't love her, no one ever will.
Campion, who scored a surprise hit with ``The Piano,'' was certainly no slave to the novel. She has cut the first 100 pages altogether, and changed the ending. In her opening shot, she has Australian women muttering some lines that are meant, one supposes, to be ``modern.'' Is this her idea of making the novel contemporary? Isabel now has sexual fantasies that would surprise, if not irritate, author James.
There are two fine supporting performances, especially Martin Donovan as Isabel's ailing cousin, a man who offers her authentic love. This is acting at its most subtle and commendable. Less subtle, but adding a needed flamboyancy, is Barbara Hershey as Madame Merle, a conniving ally to Osmond.
Malkovich repeats his mincing ladykiller role from ``Dangerous Liaisons'' and makes us wonder, yet again, what could these women see in him? There is one chilling moment, though, when he rubs his beard in Kidman's soft-complexioned face, suggesting that he not only hates her, but her entire sex.
Two-time Oscar winner Shelley Winters makes an appearance so brief she doesn't have a chance to steal a scene. Also used, briefly, are Mary-Louise Parker, Shelley Duvall, Christian Bale and Sir John Gielgud.
``The Portrait of a Lady,'' in spite of its pedigree, is a bore. ILLUSTRATION: GRAMERCY photo
Isabel Archer (Nicole Kidman) is stunned by the boldness of suitor
Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich) in ``Portrait of a Lady.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Portrait of a Lady''
Cast: Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey, Mary-Louise
Parker, Martin Donovan, Shelley Winters, Shelley Duvall, Christian
Bale, Sir John Gielgud
Director: Jane Campion
Screenplay: Laura Jones, adapted from the novel by Henry James
MPAA rating: PG-13 (nudity, sexual situations)
Mal's rating: 2 and 1/2 stars
Locations: Naro in Norfolk, Columbus in Virginia Beach