Why so much hype?

Pretty Good

People are voting emotionally.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

No one can accuse Jane Campion of lack of ambition in bringing Henry James' novel to the screen, but her film is a total disaster.The audacious style that made "The Piano" so compelling and memorable is a Frankenstein's monster here, and it runs away with Campion's film. The result is incomprehensible. Actors are stranded walking around opulent sets saying lines, while Campion pulls out every trick in the book to confounding effect.Though the fact that the film is incoherent probably means that it's a good adaptation, since it was after all based on a novel by Henry James....Grade: F

I must say this first: Jane Campion is one of my absolute favorite directors and this is her most thoroughly worked-through piece of film yet and perhaps even her best film. (She has only had one failure and that was In the Cut, which instead was really bad.)Saying this it goes without saying that i am astonished over the low rating on this movie, here at IMDb; it just tells you in the end that you can never be sure on what other people feel.The Portrait of Lady, based on the brilliant 19C novel by Henry James, tells the story of a young orphaned woman, Isabelle Archer, who is taken under the wing by an aunt and later an uncle and a cousin, and brought to Europe. Being a woman "fond of her own ways" and her personal freedom, Isabelle guards her future very well; she declines a couple of favorable marriages in favour of her own independence. As she inherits money and becomes self sufficient, she travels through Europe and soon comes to realize that independence is quite a hard position to guard, and far more difficult to manage that in real life than just having the young persons idea of it. Her travels becomes a journey of maturity and struggle with herself.What James novel so brilliantly exhibits is the mechanics of a mind of a young person, even a person of any age; and James does this so balanced.Campions film in turn, takes on the essentials from the novel, drags it through a bit of Freud and end up with a version that transcends the barriers of time, up to our days. What Campion succeeds with is to modernize the novel; make it more accessible to a modern audience; and in the end, to portray what another costume piece did, Orlando; transcendence.She does so with a brilliant cast (amaze yourself over the actors involved above!!) with Nicole Kidman in the lead as Isabelle. Others, to mention a few is Martin Donovan as her cousin Ralph, Richard E Grant as Lord Warbuton (like cut from the from the novel!! Brilliant!!), John Malkoviich as Osmond, Barbara Hershey as Madame Merle and John Gielgod (also brilliant here; so downplayed). All actors are brilliant, mentioned or not.Although I really like Marin Donovan, who I think is a much neglected actor, it would have been interesting to see Malkovich as the consumptive cousin Ralph; the part was originally offered to him but got lost somewhere...).Campion also have the magnificent help of cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, who makes it possible to to render the movie its pictorial qualities, and in the end its total art impression, instead of just a costume drama.Personally I like the Piano but it is reportedly to be only a prior sketch to this one.My recommendation is SEE IT, no matter what judgment has been passed on it on these pages.

Nicole Kidman once again plays a woman with whom many are in love but very few understand. In this film she plays an American woman who travels to Europe to try and discover herself but soon finds out that there is more to life that it has been made out to be before her. She is careful to shun the affections of those she is not attracted to but not wise enough to check if that is where true love truly resides. It isn't until she marries a man named Gilbert Osmond (played by John Malkovich) that she begins to realise that she is nothing but an article in his life. By the time she begins to think for herself again, the time for true love has already passed her by. It's directed by Jane Campion so you can expect all that feminist intonation a plenty in this one.

After Isabel knew that Pansy is Serena's daughter, she was shocked at the very beginning and scared consequently 'cause she finally came to understand that she was used by her merciless husband and his lover. After this brief encounter with Serena, she realized that her cousin deeply fell for her since the very beginning,he did all he could to make her lead a happy and rich life but to propose to her himself, which is partly due to his consideration( he didn't want to widow her since he knew that he couldn't live long due to his consumption), and also might because that he was unconfident ( his wealthy friend Lord Warburton was refused when he proposed to Isabel, he might believe that he is out of the question too).Anyway, Isabel realized the real love she held is to her cousin- Ralph, but all is too late. She was angry with herself, she was angry with her fate, in other words, she hates herself so much that she wants to torture herself as sort of revenge.. But one thing is clear that she has changed again after the visit of England, after the dying of Ralph, after knowing that her husband is merely using her for her money, she wouldn't make his life easy as before, she might want to revenge him by returning to him. One thing is clear, she is becoming stronger and more cruel, maybe no less cruel than her husband. She is like this because she lost the only one who loves her and whom she loves. Isabel is dead.