The Europeans

The obvious issue that many readers have with Henry James' books is that his characters' motives and desires often seem unclear, despite the extensive dialogues. But this is not the late James where a dozen pages of exposition of thought and motive precede each spoken sentence. The Europeans is only a short, simple book faithfully recreated here. A fine adaptation. In the past, I'd say Henry James has been excellently served by directors such as James Cellan-Jones (The golden bowl, The Ambassadors), Jack Clayton (The innocents), William Wyler (The heiress) and of course James Ivory. Yet neither Truffaut (The green room), nor Rivette (Celine et Julie), or Bogdanovich (Daisy Miller) could keep up with the Jameses. (Not to mention the disastrous version of Portrait of a Lady with Nicole Kidman.) While not on the level of Remains of the day and other Merchant/Ivory films at their peak, this film is where the partnership truly took off in presenting Masterpiece-Theatre-like period films. The visuals are untouchable. The cinematography, wonderful as it captures the New England autumn. The casting, very good: Lee Remick, Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda, Wesley Addy, Tim Woodward, Tim Choate.

Being a James Ivory film, nothing surprising in the seduction of details, clothes, rooms and dialogue. Being a good adaptation of the novel by Henry James, nothing surprising about atmosphere.

In short , a beautiful film.

The colors of autumn as one of basic virtues for me.

Ok, maybe I missed something, but the movie seemed very odd to me. The actors and actresses were either lethargic or over-hyper, and seemed to lack sincerity. So after the first five minutes, I gave up trying to follow the plot and concentrated on the costuming instead, which was fabulous. Period movies (especially ones made pre-1990) tend to care less about authenticity, and more about what looks good to the modern eye. This one was a pleasant surprise. In fact, the clothes were so good that I even wonder if they didn't use originals. I want to know, where did they get those incredible fabrics?? The hair, which is where most movies trip up the worst, was quite good except on the blonde lady (who looked like she stepped out of a 1979 issue of Vogue). Less black eye makeup would have completed the stunning job. All in all, I would recomend this movie to anyone at all interested in the look and feel of 1850s new england life, as a superb example of authenticity.

This film is a masterpiece as are all of the Merchant/Ivory's films. The absorbing story and adaptation, the fantastic actors - notably the immensely beautiful Lee Remick - and the eye for detail makes this a unique experience and may be watched again and again.

"An archetype of Merchant-Ivory period production, THE EUROPEANS is a film adaptation of Henry James' eponymous 1878 short novel, mid-19th century, the Wentworths are a wealthy family dwelling in rural Boston, and Mr. Wentworth (Addy) has three adult children, Charlotte (New), Gertrude (Eichhorn) and Clifford (Choate), while the family intends to tie the knot between a nonconformist Gertrude and the local Unitarian minister Mr. Brand (Snow), she finds no peace in his puritanical values, one day, her encounter with her cousin hitherto she has never met before, Felix Young (Woodward), sows the romantic seeds in both hearts."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks