Henry James is not one of my favorite authors to read, but he's one whose works I enjoy through either movies or miniseries, as is the case with "The Golden Bowl".
While I feel the whole story could have related in 4 episodes instead of 6, I still enjoyed watching it, one of the reasons being Jill Townsend (Maggie), who has a way of acting both with her voice and her eyes, that expresses her emotions without going overboard. Even when angry, she never overdoes it.
I also liked having the narrator (Cyril Cusack) also be a part of the story, and the symbolism of the golden bowl, almost forgotten until near the end, had the perfect subtle impact.
Despite their behavior, you still couldn't help feeling sympathy for Charlotte and Prince Amerigo (Gayle Hunnicutt and Daniel Massey), though you can't help but feel that, had they been free from the start to be together, the rosy picture of romance would probably have faded. And had Maggie and her father (Barry Morse) not been so close, keeping everyone else at a distance (whether aware of it or not), Charlotte might have been more content with the choice she made, and Amerigo may have realized sooner that there was more to Maggie than he thought.
The best part of this story is the way Maggie's character develops from a daddy's girl to a happy bride, then a loving wife and mother as well as a devoted daughter with a best friend for a stepmother, to a mature woman, disillusioned, her romantic blinders fallen, as she views the real scene, but determined to keep as much of the former landscape as possible, in whatever way she can.
Worth watching.
While I feel the whole story could have related in 4 episodes instead of 6, I still enjoyed watching it, one of the reasons being Jill Townsend (Maggie), who has a way of acting both with her voice and her eyes, that expresses her emotions without going overboard. Even when angry, she never overdoes it.
I also liked having the narrator (Cyril Cusack) also be a part of the story, and the symbolism of the golden bowl, almost forgotten until near the end, had the perfect subtle impact.
Despite their behavior, you still couldn't help feeling sympathy for Charlotte and Prince Amerigo (Gayle Hunnicutt and Daniel Massey), though you can't help but feel that, had they been free from the start to be together, the rosy picture of romance would probably have faded. And had Maggie and her father (Barry Morse) not been so close, keeping everyone else at a distance (whether aware of it or not), Charlotte might have been more content with the choice she made, and Amerigo may have realized sooner that there was more to Maggie than he thought.
The best part of this story is the way Maggie's character develops from a daddy's girl to a happy bride, then a loving wife and mother as well as a devoted daughter with a best friend for a stepmother, to a mature woman, disillusioned, her romantic blinders fallen, as she views the real scene, but determined to keep as much of the former landscape as possible, in whatever way she can.
Worth watching.