The Bostonians
The Bostonians is a 1984 romantic drama period film directed by James Ivory. The screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is based on the 1886 American novel The Bostonians by Henry James. The film stars Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Reeve, Madeleine Potter, and Jessica Tandy.
Plot
Olive Chancellor, a Back Bay Boston spinster and leader of the women's suffrage movement, becomes enamored of Verena Tarrant, an inspirational young speaker, and adopts Verena as her protégée, her friend, and her companion. When Olive's distant relation, the chauvinist Southern lawyer Basil Ransom falls in love with Verena and wishes to marry her—to relegate the young woman to the kitchen and the nursery—Olive and Ransom find themselves competing for Verena's affections. The charismatic Miss Tarrant must then choose whether to get herself to the nunnery of Olive's social cause or submit to the sensual but subservient life promised by Ransom.
More details
| author | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Boston |
| director | James Ivory |
| editor | Katherine Wenning |
| genre | drama |
| keywords | back bay chauvinism chauvinist women's suffrage women's suffrage movement young woman |
| musicBy | Richard Robbins |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Costume Design |
| producer | Ismail Merchant |
| productionCompany | Merchant Ivory Productions |
| publisher | Almi Pictures |
| recordedAt | New York City |
| theme | lgbt-related romantic drama |