Directed by Jane Campion • 1996 • United States, United Kingdom
Starring Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey

Jane Campion’s dreamily impressionistic adaptation of Henry James’s classic novel follows the fortunes of the free-spirited Isabel Archer (Nicole Kidman), a bright-eyed American heiress in Europe, whose independent-minded idealism is tested when she becomes ensnared by the scheming aesthete Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich). Graced with gorgeous cinematography and a top-flight cast—including Barbara Hershey, Mary-Louise Parker, Shelley Winters, Shelley Duvall, and John Gielgud—THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY avoids the pitfalls of the too-literal literary adaptation to become a bold, haunting work of art in its own right.