Christopher Reeve

Vanessa Redgrave

Jessica Tandy

Madeleine Potter

Nancy Marchand

Wesley Addy

Barbara Bryne

Linda Hunt

Charles McCaughan

Nancy New

Jon Van Ness

Wallace Shawn

Peter Bogyo

Martha Farrar

Dusty Maxwell

J. Lee Morgan

De French

Maura Moynihan

June Mitchell

Lee H. Doyle

Janet Cicchese

Scott Kradolfer

Jane Manners

David Beyer

James Huston

Timothy J. Richard

James Ivory

Walter Lassally

Paul Bradley

Ted Morley

Michael S. Landes

John Bright

Richard Elton

Richard Robbins

Tom Walden

David Appleton

Don Carpentier

Connie Kaiserman

Albert Schwartz

Jenny Beavan

Leo Austin

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Henry James

Katherine Wenning

Mark Potter Jr.

Ismail Merchant

Drama

Romance

The Bostonians

Merchant Ivory Productions

United Kingdom

United States of America

CinemaSerf

There's a lovely line in this otherwise unremarkable adaptation of the Henry James novel from Vanessa Redgrave who announces something along the lines of being eternally grateful for not having the vote! It did make me smile. That, sadly, is about all that did as we trudge through this stylish but turgid story of the embryonic American suffragette movement. Amidst this struggle for enfranchisement, the bright "Verena" (Madeleine Potter) is facing the affections of the more traditional "Basil" (Christopher Reeve), himself a man who she ought to have little time for. Might there be the slightest chance that something might develop between them? Initially, there is some sparky conversation amongst the well-heeled citizens and there is potency in some of the dialogue, but boy - after about half an hour the whole things slows to a glacial pace; is seriously over-written and even the usually charismatic Jessica Tandy ("Miss Birdseye") struggles to breath life into what ought to have been a sharp and wittily constructed dramatisation of a story about politics, empowerment and - yes, romance too. Reeve is as wooden as a washboard which doesn't help and though Potter does give it her all, the film just lacks spark, pace or oomph. As ever with Merchant Ivory films, the things looks a million dollars, but there's no excusing the weaknesses all around here and it takes for ever, too.

English

The Bostonians (1984) ORIGINAL TRAILER