The Bostonians (film)

The Bostonians is a 1984 historical romance drama 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.

The Bostonians was released in the United States on 2 August 1984. The film received respectable reviews and nominations by the Golden Globe Awards, Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and won Golden Peacock (Best Film) at the 10th International Film Festival of India.

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.

Cast

 * Christopher Reeve as Basil Ransom
 * Vanessa Redgrave as Olive Chancellor
 * Madeleine Potter as Verena Tarrant
 * Jessica Tandy as Miss Birdseye
 * Nancy Marchand as Mrs. Burrage
 * Wesley Addy as Dr. Tarrant
 * Barbara Bryne as Mrs. Tarrant
 * Linda Hunt as Dr. Prance
 * Charles McCaughan as Music Hall Police Officer
 * Nancy New as Adeline
 * John Van Ness Philip as Henry Burrage
 * Wallace Shawn as Mr. Pardon

Filming
Locations where the film was shot include:
 * The Library of the Boston Athenaeum
 * Gibson House Museum
 * Beacon Hill, Boston
 * Harvard University
 * Chateau-sur-Mer, Newport, Rhode Island
 * Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
 * Central Park (including Belvedere Castle), New York City
 * Martha's Vineyard

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 81% approval rating, based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90/10. On Metacritic, The Bostonians has a score of 59 out of a 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert praised the film, giving it 3 out of 4 stars and observing: Intelligent and subtle and open to the underlying tragedy of a woman who does not know what she wants, a man who does not care what he wants, and a girl who does not need what she wants.