Like THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY in 1996, this seems to be a feminist reworking of a Henry James novel, but it starts off badly. While it's nice that we get to understand why Catherine is mostly ignored by her father (because her mother died while giving birth to her), director Agnieszka Holland, writer Carol Doyle, and Jennifer Jason Leigh make her overly pathetic at first. It's as if they were smugly suggesting, "Of course no one would look at her, because her father beat her down so much." Jennifer Jason Leigh is a better actress, IMHO, then Olivia de Havilland (who played Catherine in William Wyler's adaptation of this novel, THE HEIRESS), but de Havilland(or Wyler, or both) understood we needed to see Catherine appealing and shy, otherwise we'd never believe Catherine when she believes Morris is truly in love with her. By making her pathetic, we don't quite believe it at first.
But gradually, when Leigh lets Catherine blossom and more rounded and developed, it's easy to see the dormant potential in her, and she makes us believe her gradual independence from her father. Albert Finney and Maggie Smith, of course, are old hands at this type of thing (if you'll pardon the expression), and they both do there thing again. Ben Chaplin suffers in comparison to Montgomery Clift, but he does show more deviousness than I would have believed from him. Not as good as THE HEIRESS or the other 1997 Henry James adaptation, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE, but still worthy.
But gradually, when Leigh lets Catherine blossom and more rounded and developed, it's easy to see the dormant potential in her, and she makes us believe her gradual independence from her father. Albert Finney and Maggie Smith, of course, are old hands at this type of thing (if you'll pardon the expression), and they both do there thing again. Ben Chaplin suffers in comparison to Montgomery Clift, but he does show more deviousness than I would have believed from him. Not as good as THE HEIRESS or the other 1997 Henry James adaptation, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE, but still worthy.