Merchant-Ivory have been responsible for some great films, The Remains of the Day is one of my favourites and A Room with a View, Howard's End and Maurice are also great. The Golden Bowl is one of their lesser efforts, it has some great things but is rather uneven and one of those films that will either captivate or alienate.
The best thing about The Golden Bowl is the production values, which are impeccable, as can be expected from Merchant-Ivory. It is so beautifully shot, the settings are gorgeous and have such atmosphere and warmth and the costumes are very elegant. Apart from the somewhat irritating use of the comic song, the film is also very nicely scored with the right amount of vibrancy and sensitivity. The direction from James Ivory is appropriately restrained, the script in the second half is more witty, eloquently written and intriguing with some clever double entendres and the story in the second half is more compelling, suspenseful and poignant.
In The Golden Bowl, the acting is mostly good with a few exceptions and a couple of reservations, with the good performances coming from Kate Beckinsale, Uma Thurman and Anjelica Huston. Beckinsale's performance here is one of her better ones, not only does she radiate on screen, but she's moving and dignified and her agony at realising how flawed her marriage is really hits home. Despite reservations of Thurman being too modern, and she does overact in the final scene with the most poignant line in the book and film being delivered a little too much in a hammy way, she is incandescently nuanced, heart-wrenching and wittily seductive. Huston is very cool and commanding, and definitely gives one of the most consistent and most at ease performances in the film.
Nick Nolte is also mostly impressive, a little too mannered and too nice for my tastes sometimes but once the writing gets grittier and the story more compelling his toughness has a good amount of brooding intensity and his devotion is touchingly and subtly portrayed. Jeremy Northam for me was the weak link in the cast, he's devilishly handsome but also incredibly stiff complete with an accent that never sounds believable and takes one out of the film. James Fox has very little to do in an underwritten role, it is a role he should have been ideal for but it wastes him unfortunately.
The Golden Bowl's script is uneven, with it being better in the second half than in the first. The dialogue at times in the first half is stilted and pretty awful, with a lack of emotional connection. In the film generally there is also material that adds little (including an out of place exotic dance), it loses much of the themes of doubt and ambiguity that makes the story as complex as it is and some of it is even over-simplified to the point that the impact is completely lost, like the talk of dishonour. Henry James is very difficult to adapt, and The Golden Bowl is perhaps his most demanding work because of the themes and how deeply he examines the mixed motives of the characters, but while the characters, relationships, basic events and the motivations are all there some of it felt like Henry James watered down. The story is too languidly paced in the first half due to the story not being as interesting, there is a disconnect emotionally and the characters don't intrigue enough at this point. There is also too much symbolism, and some of it is laid on too thickly, like with the golden bowl and the exterior darkness.
All in all, visually beautiful and mostly well-acted but uneven. A lesser Merchant-Ivory effort, and not one of the strongest Henry James film adaptations (The Innocents, The Wings of the Dove and especially The Heiress), but worth seeing. 6/10 Bethany Cox
The best thing about The Golden Bowl is the production values, which are impeccable, as can be expected from Merchant-Ivory. It is so beautifully shot, the settings are gorgeous and have such atmosphere and warmth and the costumes are very elegant. Apart from the somewhat irritating use of the comic song, the film is also very nicely scored with the right amount of vibrancy and sensitivity. The direction from James Ivory is appropriately restrained, the script in the second half is more witty, eloquently written and intriguing with some clever double entendres and the story in the second half is more compelling, suspenseful and poignant.
In The Golden Bowl, the acting is mostly good with a few exceptions and a couple of reservations, with the good performances coming from Kate Beckinsale, Uma Thurman and Anjelica Huston. Beckinsale's performance here is one of her better ones, not only does she radiate on screen, but she's moving and dignified and her agony at realising how flawed her marriage is really hits home. Despite reservations of Thurman being too modern, and she does overact in the final scene with the most poignant line in the book and film being delivered a little too much in a hammy way, she is incandescently nuanced, heart-wrenching and wittily seductive. Huston is very cool and commanding, and definitely gives one of the most consistent and most at ease performances in the film.
Nick Nolte is also mostly impressive, a little too mannered and too nice for my tastes sometimes but once the writing gets grittier and the story more compelling his toughness has a good amount of brooding intensity and his devotion is touchingly and subtly portrayed. Jeremy Northam for me was the weak link in the cast, he's devilishly handsome but also incredibly stiff complete with an accent that never sounds believable and takes one out of the film. James Fox has very little to do in an underwritten role, it is a role he should have been ideal for but it wastes him unfortunately.
The Golden Bowl's script is uneven, with it being better in the second half than in the first. The dialogue at times in the first half is stilted and pretty awful, with a lack of emotional connection. In the film generally there is also material that adds little (including an out of place exotic dance), it loses much of the themes of doubt and ambiguity that makes the story as complex as it is and some of it is even over-simplified to the point that the impact is completely lost, like the talk of dishonour. Henry James is very difficult to adapt, and The Golden Bowl is perhaps his most demanding work because of the themes and how deeply he examines the mixed motives of the characters, but while the characters, relationships, basic events and the motivations are all there some of it felt like Henry James watered down. The story is too languidly paced in the first half due to the story not being as interesting, there is a disconnect emotionally and the characters don't intrigue enough at this point. There is also too much symbolism, and some of it is laid on too thickly, like with the golden bowl and the exterior darkness.
All in all, visually beautiful and mostly well-acted but uneven. A lesser Merchant-Ivory effort, and not one of the strongest Henry James film adaptations (The Innocents, The Wings of the Dove and especially The Heiress), but worth seeing. 6/10 Bethany Cox