The Portrait of a Lady

Jane Campion’s elegantly mesmerizing, ultimately devastating adaptation of a Henry James novel long thought unfilmable stars Nicole Kidman as the tragically idealistic young American Isabel Archer. Suddenly wealthy from an unexpected inheritance, Isabel determines that her financial independence should also free her from societal convention, and sets out on a quest for art and experience in Europe. Like so many of James’ American innocents abroad, Isabel becomes ensnared in the stratagems of various schemers, including the brittle, blithely amoral Madame Merle (Barbara Hershey) and the devious aesthete Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich). With a supporting cast that includes Sir John Gielgud, Shelley Winters, Christian Bale, Viggo Mortensen, Shelly Duvall and Mary-Louise Parker, and an exquisite period design seemingly based on John Singer Sargent paintings, Campion’s daring adaptation of one of the greatest of all novels is a lavish, tough-minded epic of seduction, betrayal and hopeful triumph.