Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10218 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-15
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 130 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Henry James' novel The Golden Bowl is here adapted into one of the most beautiful films yet from the Merchant Ivory stable (and that's saying something given their penchant for fin de siècle subject matter). But it was an unwieldy novel and as a film it's flawed just like the titular bowl. The action centres on Maggie, daughter of American millionaire Adam Verver, who is married to the impoverished Italian nobleman Amerigo, who had previously had a secret affair with the poor but scheming Charlotte. The square is completed when Charlotte marries the widowed Adam. Although Maggie (artlessly played by Kate Beckinsdale) begins the film as a complete innocent, it is ultimately she who takes tacit control of the tangled relationships.

Nick Nolte brings a patrician quality to the part of Adam, whose main obsession in life is collecting objects of beauty and value for a museum he's planning in the States. Jeremy Northam's Amerigo is convincing without being likeable. It is Charlotte, however, who is the centre around which everything else revolves and Uma Thurman relies too heavily on her own charms and not enough on strong characterisation. In the end, she is not sufficiently magnetic for her role to ring true.

On the DVD: The Golden Bowl's sumptuous settings are a glory to behold, and beautifully captured here. The inclusion of original film footage from early last century adds tremendously to the period flavour and the behind-the-scenes interviews and brief film of Merchant Ivory's past endeavours add to the appeal of the package, though there are effectively no subtitles or language options. --Harriet Smith

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Merchant Ivory Anniversary Reel
Production Featurette

Synopsis
THE GOLDEN BOWL is Merchant-Ivory's adaptation of the Henry James novel of romantic torment--the novel James named as his favorite. The title refers to a beautiful crystal bowl encrusted with gold, which conceals a single imperceptible flaw--a small crack. The bowl is a simple, effective metaphor for the seeming perfection of the relationships in the film. Some characters in THE GOLDEN BOWL see the hidden flaw, and keep their knowledge of its worthlessness to themselves. Others do not see the flaw, and live their lives feeling that they should be happy, not understanding the root of their unease. THE GOLDEN BOWL features excellent performances, particularly from Nick Nolte as the American billionaire Adam Verver, and Kate Beckinsale as Maggie, his devoted daughter. Maggie marries an Italian prince (Jeremy Northam) who has a secret past with her best friend (Uma Thurman). The film includes the lavishly precise production design expected of Merchant-Ivory works. But the dark emotional complexity of the source novel, combined with the filmmakers's aesthetically bold inclusion of archival footage from early 20th Century urban America, give the film an edge--a palpable sense of the underlying dread of industrialization in the New World.

Customer Reviews

Riveting
If you like movies like “The remains of the day”, “The Scarlet Letter” or “Possession”, you gonna enjoy „The Golden Bowl” by James Ivory.
It tells the story of two impoverished lovers, Charlotte (played by Uma Thurman) and Amerigo, an Italian Prince (Jeremy Northam) who are marrying a rich American art collector (Nick Nolte) and his daughter Maggie (Kate Beckinsale). But since Maggie and her father have a very close bond, the former couple get to meet each other all the time and often are left alone by their spouses. Of course, their feelings cannot be kept hidden for long. Especially Charlotte can’t bear to be separated from her great love, Amerigo. The latter is torn between his young, innocent wife and the seducing Charlotte. He’s determined to make his marriage work and therefore struggles not to hurt Maggie, until, but already late in the story, he gives in to the passion that still binds him to Charlotte.

The movie is set against beautiful back-drops with a great love for details. Costumes, furniture, jewellery – everything is splendid and brilliantly recreates the fin de siècle atmosphere.

Concerning the cast, the greatest surprise for me was Nick Nolte, whom I never saw in such a role. He really gave an extraordinary performance as the paternal Maecenas, who is far too much in love with his old paintings than to satisfy the needs of Uma Thurman’s character, a vital, passionate young woman. Jeremy Northam is a convincing, elegant Italian aristocrat and intensely portraits Amerigo’s fight between the growing love for his wife and the charms of Charlotte, the respect for his father-in-law, the tender love for his little son. Uma Thurman is not only wonderful to see, but you can also feel her deep love for the prince and the pain she endures because of the separation.
The DVD provides some really good extra features like interviews with the cast and fully detailed biographies. Jeremy Northam comments he wishes the audiences to get involved in the unfolding of the characters instead of only following the plot and wondering what happens next. Thanks to the extremely talented cast, you get the chance to enjoy both.

"I want the bowl, without the crack."
A magnificent medieval bowl, created from a single perfect crystal, has, despite its appearance, a flaw--a crack which reduces its value. Henry James, author of the novel on which this Ruth Prawer Jhabvala screenplay is based, uses the gilded bowl as a metaphor for love and marriage, focusing on two couples, whose overlapping relationships and marriages prove to be as fragile and damaged as the bowl. Produced by Merchant-Ivory and sumptuously filmed by Tony Pierce-Roberts on locations in Italy and England, the film brings the intensity of the psychological conflicts to life.

Italian Prince Amerigo (Jeremy Northam) is the impoverished owner of Palazzo Ugolini near Rome, unable to maintain the palace until, in 1903, he marries Maggie Verver (Kate Beckinsale), daughter of the first American billionaire, Adam Verver (Nick Nolte). The prince has previously had a secret affair with Charlotte Stant (Uma Thurman), a friend of Maggie. When Charlotte subsequently marries Adam, Maggie's father, both couples move to England, where three years later, Charlotte and Amerigo resume their passion.

The relationships among the four principals are explored with the same sophistication as in James's novel. Maggie's torment is fully revealed when she suspects an affair, and her determination to protect her father from this knowledge becomes an agonizing chore. Numerous symbols help to convey the trauma of the betrayal, from the history of the prince's castle, in which an ancestor found his young wife and his son in bed and executed them, to Maggie's dream of being imprisoned in a porcelain pagoda which has a crack.

Nolte shows surprising subtlety in his emotions as he suspects his wife's treachery, while Uma Thurman is passionate, reckless, and very seductive in her obsession with the prince. Northam explores the prince's character fully, moving from early passion for Charlotte to a more mature awareness of his love and respect for Maggie. Beckinsale, as the ingenuous Maggie, develops maturity and shows remarkable character as she works diligently to protect her marriage and her father. Supporting roles by Angelica Huston and Madeleine Potter further develop the psychological pressures by illustrating the characters' lives within the context of their frenetic, continental lifestyles.

Director James Ivory inserts old kinescope films and newspapers of turn-of-the-century America into the film to illustrate the on-going contrast between life in America and life in Europe, a constant James theme, as Verver builds his new American museum of European treasures. Lovers of Henry James will find this film faithful to James's intents, while those less enamored of his convoluted literary style may be inspired to read him because of the psychological sophistication of this plot--and this film. Mary Whipple