Main Cast: Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Madeleine Potter, Jessica Tandy, Nancy Marchand
Release Year: 1984
Country: UK
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by Henry James, Merchant/Ivory's The Bostonians 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 and 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). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Christopher Reeve was best known to audiences as the Man of Steel. It may be surprising, then, that his next most consistent engagement was appearing in Merchant-Ivory movies. Nearly a decade before his role in The Remains of the Day, Reeve starred in James Ivory's The Bostonians, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's adaptation of the Henry James novel. There are several reasons The Bostonians is a lesser film in the Merchant-Ivory canon, but Reeve isn't one of them. Playing a detestable guardian of the patriarchy, who considers women better suited for motherhood than intellect and governance, Reeve nonetheless turns in a seductive performance, one that might undermine a would-be feminist in spite of herself. Such a role reminds viewers that just because Reeve was an icon, it didn't mean his range was limited to Superman. The film on the whole doesn't fare quite so well, despite tackling some important issues in the women's movement (suffrage), and hinting at others which, if given a name, would have been too risqué even for 1984 (the probable lesbianism of Vanessa Redgrave's Olive Chancellor). The Bostonians does generate a bunch of useful discourse, but other than that, it suffers from a lack of specificity. The action moves restlessly between locations without a plot-driven reason, spending relatively little time in Boston all told. And it's never quite possible to feel sympathy for the three main characters. Miss Chancellor's motives for her oratorically gifted protégé may be socially progressive, but even protecting Verena from Reeve's Basil Ransome feels like an oppressive act, designed to restrict her attentions to the movement -- and to keep her unattached. Meanwhile, young Verena (Madeleine Potter), vacillating between these two controlling influences, just seems weak and passively dishonest, a result of her lack of self possession. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Wesley Addy - Dr. Tarrant; Linda Hunt - Dr. Prance; Nancy New - Mrs. Adeline Luna; Wallace Shawn - Mr. Pardon; Maura Moynihan - Henrietta Stackpole; Martha Farrar - Mrs. Farrinder; Barbara Byrne - Mrs. Tarrant; Charles McCaughan - Music Hall Policeman; John Van Ness Philip - Henry Burrage; Jon Van Ness - Henry Burrage; Peter Bogyo - Mr. Gracie; Lee Doyle - Mr. Filer; June Mitchell - Party Guest
Credit
Jenny Beavan - Costume Designer, John Bright - Costume Designer, James Ivory - Director, Mark Potter - Editor, Katherine Wenning - Editor, Richard Robbins - Composer (Music Score), Leo Austin - Production Designer, Walter Lassally - Cinematographer, Connie Kaiserman - Producer, Michael S. Landes - Producer, Ismail Merchant - Producer, Al Schwartz - Producer, Richard Elton - Set Designer, Ray Beckett - Sound/Sound Designer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Screenwriter, Henry James - Book Author
