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The Bostonians (film)

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The Bostonians
Australian theatrical poster
Directed byJames Ivory
Screenplay byRuth Prawer Jhabvala
Based onThe Bostonians
by Henry James
Produced byIsmail Merchant
Starring
CinematographyWalter Lassally
Edited byKatherine Wenning
Music byRichard Robbins
Production
company
Distributed byAlmi Pictures (USA)
Release date
  • 2 August 1984 (1984-08-02) (United States)
Running time
122 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom[1]
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,009,700[2]

The Bostonians is a 1984 historical romance drama film directed by James Ivory. The screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is based on the 1886 American novel The Bostonians by Henry James. The film stars Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Reeve, Madeleine Potter, and Jessica Tandy.

The Bostonians was released in the United States on 2 August 1984.[3] The film received respectable reviews and nominations by the Golden Globe Awards, Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and won Golden Peacock (Best Film) at the 10th International Film Festival of India.

Plot

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Olive Chancellor, a Back Bay Boston spinster and leader of the women's suffrage movement, becomes enamored of Verena Tarrant, an inspirational young speaker, and adopts Verena as her protégée, her friend, and her companion. When Olive's distant relation, the chauvinist Southern lawyer Basil Ransom, falls in love with Verena and wishes to marry her — to relegate the young woman to the kitchen and the nursery — Olive and Ransom find themselves competing for Verena's affections. The charismatic Miss Tarrant must then choose whether to get herself to the nunnery of Olive's social cause or submit to the sensual but subservient life promised by Ransom.[4]

Cast

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Production

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Filming

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Locations where the film was shot include:

Critical reception

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 81% approval rating, based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90/10.[5] On Metacritic, The Bostonians has a score of 59 out of a 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]

Roger Ebert praised the film, giving it 3 out of 4 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.[7]

Accolades

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Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Actress Vanessa Redgrave Nominated [8]
Best Costume Design Jenny Beavan and John Bright Nominated
British Academy Film Awards Best Costume Design Nominated [9]
British Society of Cinematographers Awards Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film Walter Lassally Nominated [10]
Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Vanessa Redgrave Nominated [11]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Best Actress Runner-up [12]
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actress Won [13]
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actress Runner-up [14]

References

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  1. ^ "The Bostonians". Variety. 31 December 1983.
  2. ^ "The Bostonians". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  3. ^ Maslin, Janet (2 August 1984). "The Screen: Redgrave in Jame's 'Bostonians'". The New York Times. p. 15.
  4. ^ "The Bostonians". Merchant Ivory Productions. Archived from the original on 3 September 2000.
  5. ^ "The Bostonians". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  6. ^ "The Bostonians (1984)". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger (1 January 1984). "The Bostonians". Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  8. ^ "The 57th Academy Awards (1985) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  9. ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1985". British Academy Film Awards. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Best Cinematography in Feature Film" (PDF). British Society of Cinematographers. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  11. ^ "The Bostonians". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  12. ^ "The 10th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. 19 December 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  14. ^ "'Passage' Wins Two Big Awards". Observer-Reporter. 20 December 1984. Retrieved 28 December 2017 – via Google News Archive.
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