Film, TV or Theatrical Adaptations
In 1972 the BBC produced a six-hour televised version that was highly praised, with a screenplay by Jack Pulman, Gayle Hunnicutt as Charlotte, Barry Morse as Adam Verver, Jill Townsend as Maggie, Daniel Massey as the Prince, and Cyril Cusack as Bob Assingham, ingeniously presented as the narrator, commenting on the development of the story very much in the style of Henry James himself. More faithful to the book than the later Merchant-Ivory film, in the U.S., this version was presented on Masterpiece Theatre.
The Golden Bowl was filmed by Merchant Ivory Productions in 2000, directed by James Ivory, starring Uma Thurman, Nick Nolte, Kate Beckinsale and Jeremy Northam. In some ways Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's adaptation differs from James's novel. In the book Charlotte is a calculatingly amoral character who terrifies her potential enemies with a glance and a smile. In the movie, Charlotte is shown as more shallow and frivolous.
A central point of the novel is James's comparison of the adultery of Amerigo and Charlotte vs. the self-absorption of Maggie and Adam. Marrying Charlotte to Adam is at first Maggie's response to her leaving her widowed father alone, and then Charlotte and Amerigo's adultery is enabled by Maggie and Adam's relationship. The film treats this aspect of the novel rather superficially.
Read more about this topic: The Golden Bowl
Famous quotes containing the word theatrical:
“A Man who always acts in the Severity of Wisdom, or the Haughtiness of Quality, seems to move in a personated Part: It looks too Constrained and Theatrical for a Man to be always in that Character which distinguishes him from others.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)