The Portrait of a Lady
If ever a movie was due for a reappraisal, it's this one. That it was so poorly received, and then pretty much forgotten, is very strange (with Campion hot off The Piano, and Kidman off To Die For) and sad (considering how great TPoaL is). Must have been some case of acute costume drama and/or artsiness fatigue among critics or something.
There is a good
Film Comment piece on the particulars of what's going on in this movie, so I won't go into it. Better to read about it after watching anyway, its enigmatic quality was part of its intrigue for me at least. There are some delightful surprising touches and stylistic flourishes, the direction and photography in this movie is breathtaking. Great score too.
And just look at this cast: Nicole Kidman (perfect for the role and possibly career-best here), Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich, Martin Donovan, Richard E. Grant, Mary-Louise Parker, Christian Bale, Viggo Mortensen, Shelley Winters, Shelley Duvall, John Gielgud.
Also watched a couple more Wenders movies in the Mubi retrospective,
Wrong Move and
The American Friend. The first had some cool parts but was a little boring, the latter was very good.
Kings of the Road up next.