The Bostonians 1984 PG, 120 min. Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: James Ivory Cast: Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Madeleine Potter, Jessica Tandy, Nancy Marchand, Wesley Addy, Wallace Shawn, Linda Hunt, Barbara Bryne, Charles McCaughan, Nancy New, Jon Van Ness
Based on Henry James' novel, this is the story of young feminists in the late 1800s who find their quest for equality is not going to be an easy fight. Lesbian suffragette Olive Chancellor (Vanessa Redgrave) engages in a tug-of-war with Basil Ransom (Christopher Reeve) when they both pursue young Verena Tarrant (Madeleine Potter). Basil is in love with Verena, but Olive wants to use Verena's connections to promote the suffragette ideology. Emotions flare when decisions must be made between love and fighting for the cause of equal rights. Redgrave received an Oscar nomination for her performance.
|  | |
The Europeans 1979 N/R, 98 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Lee Remick, Robin Ellis, Wesley Addy, Tim Choate, Lisa Eichhorn, Nancy New, Kristin Griffith, Norman Snow, Helen Stenborg, Tim Woodward, Gedda Petry, James Ivory
Henry James' novel is the source for this film contrasting American and European manners during the mid-19th century. The story takes place in New England during a period of time when European cousins Eugenia (Lee Remick) and Felix (Tim Woodward) visit their American relatives and try to take advantage of their prosperity by marrying one of them. Eugenia woos cousin Robert (Robin Ellis), while Felix really falls for Gertrude (Lisa Eichhorn), but there are differences from the start marked by sophisticated, but poor, Europeans and stern, but wealthy, New Englanders. Will real love rise to the fore and overcome those differences?
|  | |
The Golden Bowl 2000 R, 134 min. Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: James Ivory Cast: Uma Thurman, Jeremy Northam, Kate Beckinsale, Nick Nolte, Anjelica Huston, James Fox, Madeleine Potter, Nicholas Day, Peter Eyre, Nickolas Grace, Robin Hart, Mattia Sbragia, Francesco Giuffrida, Marta Paola Richeldi, Rossano Rubicondi
This film is based on Henry James' novel about impossible marriages in the midst of upper-crust British society. When U.S. billionaire Adam Verver (Nick Nolte) and his daughter Maggie (Kate Beckinsale) meet socialite Mrs. Assingham (Anjelica Huston) in Europe, she introduces Maggie to penniless Prince Amerigo (Jeremy Northam), and they make plans to marry. Mrs. Assingham also encourages Adam to marry Charlotte (Uma Thurman). All does not end happily because it turns out that Charlotte and Amerigo were once lovers, and now they enter an adulterous relationship.
|  | |
Heat and Dust 1982 R, 133 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Julie Christie, Greta Scacchi, Christopher Cazenove, Julian Glover, Susan Fleetwood, Shashi Kapoor, Madhur Jaffrey, Nickolas Grace, Zakir Hussain, Barry Foster, Patrick Godfrey, Jennifer Kendal
Fascinated by her Great-Aunt Olivia's (Greta Scacchi) letters, Anne (Julie Christie) heads to India to research Olivia's life and find out why she was a subject of scandal 60 years ago. As she investigates, Anne is pulled into India's culture as the film cuts back and forth from modern-day India and Anne's life to life in India as seen by Olivia.
|  | |
Howards End 1992 PG, 140 min. Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: James Ivory Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Joseph Bennett, Prunella Scales, Mary Nash, Samuel West, Adrian Ross Magenty, Jo Kendall, James Wilby, Jemma Redgrave, Ian Latimer, Susie Lindeman, Peter Cellier
The English social-class system in the early 20th century is the backdrop for this creative film. Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave) is dying, and she wants to leave her country manor to Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) who is not a member of the upper class. Ruth's husband, Henry (Anthony Hopkins), keeps the will a secret after Ruth dies, but he does meet and fall in love with Margaret. They marry, but their class differences cause them unhappiness. Meanwhile, Margaret's sister, Helen (Helena Bonham Carter), cannot stand Henry's snobbish ways and is trying to help working-class clerk Leonard Bast (Samuel West) improve his station in life. Thompson won an Oscar for Best Actress, and two other Oscars were awarded. Six additional nominations were received including Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actress (Redgrave).
|  | |
Jane Austen in Manhattan 1980 N/R, 108 min. Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: James Ivory Cast: Anne Baxter, Robert Powell, Michael Wager, Tim Choate, John Guerrasio, Katrina Hodiak, Kurt Johnson, Philip Lenkowsky, Charles McCaughan, Nancy New, Sean Young, Bernard Barrow, Naomi Riordan, Bella Jarrett, Lee H. Doyle
Rival directors Lilliana (Anne Baxter) and Pierre (Robert Powell), who differ in their plans for the mode of presentation, fight for the right to bring to the stage a long-lost play written by Jane Austen when she was a mere 12 years old. During their competition for the rights to present the play, they also vie for actress Ariadne (Sean Young) to perform in the play–and the intrigue continues.
|  | |
Jefferson in Paris 1995 PG-13, 142 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Nick Nolte, Greta Scacchi, James Earl Jones, Thandie Newton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Simon Callow, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Michael Lonsdale, Nancy Marchand, Seth Gilliam
This film chronicles the period of Thomas Jefferson's life (1784-89) when he was U.S. Ambassador to France and a member of the Court of Versailles during the romantic and politically charged pre-Revolutionary era. It also addresses Jefferson's persona, including a love for a black slave and a black man who claimed to be Jefferson's son.
|  | |
Le Divorce 2003 PG-13, 115 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: James Ivory Cast: Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, Leslie Caron, Stockard Channing, Glenn Close, Stephen Fry, Thierry Lhermitte, Melvil Poupaud, Bebe Neuwirth, Sam Waterston, Samuel Labarthe
When Isabel (Kate Hudson) arrives in Paris to help her half-sister, Roxanne (Naomi Watts), she learns that Roxanne's husband (Melvil Poupaud) has walked out on her. So ends what should have been a peaceful visit as a complex comedy unfolds.
|  | |
Maurice 1987 R, 140 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: James Wilby, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Denholm Elliott, Simon Callow, Billie Whitelaw, Ben Kingsley, Barry Foster, Judy Parfitt, Phoebe Nicholls, Patrick Godfrey, Mark Tandy
Two Cambridge underclassmen (James Wilby and Hugh Grant) fall in love with each other and then find diverse ways of dealing with homosexuality in the class society of Edwardian England.
|  | |
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge 1990 PG-13, 127 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Blythe Danner, Simon Callow, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Sean Leonard, Margaret Welsh, Austin Pendleton, Saundra McClain, Diane Kagan
This film is a good character study consisting of vignettes in the lives of Walter (Paul Newman) and India (Joanne Woodward) Bridges. It is the story of predictable personalities of a staunchly conservative husband and his repressed wife. Woodward was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.
|  | |
Quartet 1981 R, 101 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Alan Bates, Maggie Smith, Isabelle Adjani, Anthony Higgins, Pierre Clementi, Suzanne Flon, Daniel Mesguich, Sheila Gish, Wiley Wood, Virginie Thevenet, Daniel Chatto, Bernice Stegers
Set in Paris during the 1920s, this film reveals the trials of homeless Marya (Isabelle Adjani) who struggles for survival while her husband, Stephan (Anthony Higgins), is in prison. Her chance comes when a wealthy, but odd, couple–H.J. (Alan Bates) and Lois (Maggie Smith)–offer her refuge. When Marya becomes the mistress of H.J., Lois barely tolerates their actions. The story is loosely based on the early life of Jean Rhys before she became a writer.
|  | |
The Remains of the Day 1993 PG, 134 min. Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: James Ivory Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox, Christopher Reeve, Peter Vaughan, Hugh Grant, Michael Lonsdale, Tim Pigott-Smith, Peter Cellier, Peter Eyre, Caroline Hunt, John Haycraft, Paula Jacobs, Ben Chaplin, Patrick Godfrey
Years into his career as butler, James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) looks back on younger days when he had choices concerning his future. Through flashbacks, James remembers Mary Kenton (Emma Thompson), the head housekeeper, who fell in love with him and provided the challenges to him concerning his employer, Lord Darlington (James Fox) and his devotion to the Nazi cause in pre-World War II Britain. There were eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Actor, Actress, and Director.
|  | |
A Room with a View 1986 PG, 117 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Denholm Elliott, Daniel Day-Lewis, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Rosemary Leach, Rupert Graves, Peter Cellier
This excellent movie, set in Edwardian England, revolves around the snobbish upper class. A young Englishwoman (Helena Bonham Carter) takes a tour with her chaperon (Maggie Smith). In a delightful way, the movie shows the workings of minds in an era long gone. The film won three Academy awards and also was nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Denholm Elliott), Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith), and Director.
|  | |
Roseland 1977 PG, 103 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Geraldine Chaplin, Joan Copeland, Helen Gallagher, Lou Jacobi, Louise Kirtland, Lilia Skala, Christopher Walken, Teresa Wright, Conrad Janis
Set in NYC's famous Roseland Ballroom, this trilogy reveals insight into the lives of lonely people who come together for dancing and hopes of companionship.
|  | |
Savages 1972 R, 105 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: James Ivory Cast: Lewis J. Stadlen, Thayer David, Susan Blakely, Russ Thacker, Salome Jens, Margaret Brewster, Neil Fitzgerald, Eva Saleh, Ultra Violet, Kathleen Widdoes, Sam Waterston, Martin Kove
As primitive mud people follow a croquet ball through the forest, the trail ends at a Long Island estate. Although no one is home, the mud people don clothes found on the estate, become civilized, and party as if they were upper-class society. But, civilization isn't far from the savage state as is shown when party-goers follow a croquet ball that is hit back into the forest and they re-enter their primitive world.
|  | |
Slaves of New York 1989 R, 121 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: James Ivory Cast: Bernadette Peters, Adam Coleman Howard, Jsu Garcia, Charles McCaughan, Madeleine Potter, Chris Sarandon, Mary Beth Hurt, Mercedes Ruehl, Anthony LaPaglia, Tammy Grimes
This modern day romantic comedy rambles through the art world of New York. The people are boring, as is the film.
|  | |
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries 1998 R, 124 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Barbara Hershey, Leelee Sobieski, Jesse Bradford, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Dominique Blanc, Jane Birkin, Virginie Ledoyen, Samuel Gruen, Isaach De Bankole
Adapted from Kaylie Jones' (daughter of James Jones) autobiographical novel, this is the story of the experiences of a war-novelist father's child who lives with her family in Paris during the 1960s. The family adopts a son who is eager to become an "American," but when the family moves back to the U.S., the children have problems assimilating into the American culture.
|  | |
Surviving Picasso 1996 R, 123 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Natascha McElhone, Julianne Moore, Joss Ackland, Peter Eyre, Jane Lapotaire, Joan Plowright, Allegra Di Carpegna, Nigel Whitmey, Leon Lissek
Arianna Stassinopoulos's biography of Picasso is adapted to the screen in this film about the 10-year relationship of Picasso (Anthony Hopkins) and Francoise Gilot (Natasha McElhone).
|  | |
The White Countess 2005 PG-13, 135 min. Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, John Wood, Madeleine Potter, Madeleine Cooper, Allan Corduner, Hiroyuki Sanada, Luoyong Wang, Ying Da
In 1930s' Shanghai, exiled Russian Countess Sofia Belinsky (Natasha Richardson) takes a job as a nightclub dancer, and occasional prostitute, to support her deceased husband's family. While on the job, Sofia forms a relationship with blind, American expatriate Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes) who asks her to be the hostess at his new bar. As their friendship deepens, Todd's cynicism melts away–but only for awhile.
|  | |
| 1. The Bostonians (1984)
2. The Europeans (1979)
3. The Golden Bowl (2000)
4. Heat and Dust (1982)
5. Howards End (1992)
6. Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
7. Jefferson in Paris (1995)
8. Le Divorce (2003)
9. Maurice (1987)
10. Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990)
11. Quartet (1981)
12. The Remains of the Day (1993)
13. A Room with a View (1986)
14. Roseland (1977)
15. Savages (1972)
16. Slaves of New York (1989)
17. A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998)
18. Surviving Picasso (1996)
19. The White Countess (2005)
20. The Wild Party (1975)
In The News
|