The Bostonians | |
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Directed by | James Ivory |
Written by | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
Produced by | Ismail Merchant |
Starring | Christopher Reeve Vanessa Redgrave Jessica Tandy Madeleine Potter Nancy Marchand Wesley Addy Barbara Bryne Linda Hunt Charles McCaughan Nancy New John Van Ness Philip Wallace Shawn |
Cinematography | Walter Lassally |
Music by | Richard Robbins |
Distributed by | Almi Pictures (USA) |
Release date |
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Running time | 122 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $1,009,700[1] |
The Bostonians is a 1984 British romantic drama film based on Henry James's novel The Bostonians. It was adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The film stars Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Reeve, Madeleine Potter and Jessica Tandy. The movie received respectable reviews and showings at arthouse theaters in New York, London and other cities. Vanessa Redgrave received 1984 Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress, and the movie earned other award nominations for its costume design.
The film is set among the Back Bay uppercrust of the 19th century. Basil Ransom (Christopher Reeve), bored by his opulent lifestyle and his "proper" friends, is fascinated by his cousin, outspoken suffragette Olive Chancellor (Vanessa Redgrave). Basil and Olive's mutual friend is likeable, gregarious Verena Tannant (Madeleine Potter). Soon a triangle develops, albeit an unorthodox one: Basil and Olive both find themselves pursuing Verena, Basil because he is in love with her, and Olive because she wants to exploit Verena's social connections (although some have thought she was also a lesbian, but did not know it) and use Verena's gift for public speaking to promote her own political ideology. Lurking in the background is Verena's true love, poor-but-honest attorney Henry Burrage (John Van Ness).[2]
Roger Ebert praised the film, giving it 3 out of 3 stars and observing:
...intelligent and subtle and open to the underlying tragedy of a woman who does not know what she wants, a man who does not care what he wants, and a girl who does not need what she wants.[3]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 80% approval rating.[2]
This film was principally photographed at: