A Dolls House - 1973 Production with Claire Bloom

A Doll's House - 1973 Production with Claire Bloom The Bottom Line This treatment of Henrik Ibsens play, A Dolls  House, by director Patrick Garland and actors Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins, is especially strong. Garland manages to transcend the plot contrivances which I found, on reading Henrik Ibsens play, to make the story almost unbelievable, and instead, create characters and a story that seem real. A surprisingly hopeful film to enjoy for itself, this would also make an interesting film to use in high school, college, or adult classes to explore issues of gender roles and expectations. Pros both Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins create sympathetic charactersdepicts woman on a pedestal in its positives and negativesemotional depth of Noras transformation and her husbands reaction ring truefictionalized and historical settings may make discussion of feminist issues feel safer to somemakes a somewhat-contrived plot seem believable Cons some plot coincidences a bit too contrivedhistorical and fictional settings may, for some, make the feminist issue easy to dismissfor some women, that this is written by a man might be a negative Description Henrik Ibsens depiction of 19th century men and women in marriage and friendshipDepicts Nora Helmars attempt to find her identity, beyond the constricting pedestalAlso depicts her husband Torvald Helmers attempt to salvage his own identity at work and home1973 production directed by Patrick Garland, screenwriter Christopher HamptonClaire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins star as Nora and Torvald HelmerDenholm Elliott, Ralph Richardson, Edith Evans,and Helen Blatch play supporting roles Review - A Dolls House The basic plot is this: a woman of the 19th century, pampered first by her father and then by her husband, acts out of caring and that act then subjects her and her husband to blackmail, threatening their security and future. How Nora, her husband, and Noras friends attempt to deal with the threat depict different kinds of love. Some loves transform people and bring out their best and the best in their loved ones others make the lover and loved one smaller. I remember the first time I read Henrik Ibsens play, A Dolls House, in the late 1960s, just when the feminist movement was rediscovering past literary treatments of gender roles. Betty Friedans more straightforward treatment of the ultimately-unsatisfying constrictions of womens traditional role seemed to ring more true. In reading A Dolls House then, I was disturbed by what I read as contrived characters Nora always seemed quite the silly doll, even after her transformation. And her husband! What a shallow man! He didnt evoke the least bit of sympathy in me. But Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins, in director Patrick Garlands 1973 treatment, show how good acting and direction can add to a play what a dry reading cannot.