...and I've seen a lot of German films. The camera work was over self-conscious. Several entire scenes were shot using only half of the actors faces in close-up, like a bad 80's music video. Nicole Kidman was badly directed. She must have been told to weep in every scene, because that's all she did. John Malkovich was badly contained from his own acting excesses. Barbara Hersey was commendable, but really was buried under more bad direction. There were lots of gratuitous costume shots, which as a seamstress I appreciated, but really did nothing to move the plot along. All the art of the book was totally lost in this movies attempt to capture it. Dismal. I contemplated walking out but kept hoping it would get better. It didn't.
Review of The Portrait of a Lady
