Rent The Golden Bowl (1973)

Complex Novel made as TV Drama a Notable Feat - The Golden Bowl review by CV

I read this novel two years ago and as I read its few-hundred page length felt that more must have been happening in it than I was reading consciously. Having watched the film I it was revealed that I hadn't missed anything at all! The plot of this film is aided by two of the minor characters periodically stepping out of the action to guide the viewers as a commentary. In the novel, the plot unwinds at snail pace and you are overwhelmed with questions and possibilities that the characters are concerned with. At first, in this production, I felt that the characters of the Prince and his new wife, Maggie were very undistinguished but it was not until the last episode that something like drama was taking place arising, at long last, between the conflicting desires and ambitions of the quartet of characters.

Who would this production appeal to? At one level, one may be shocked, or even be indignant that the Edwardian rich had nothing better to do than observe each other and make pleasantries while servants made their tea and put their coats away! The idle rich indeed! We have to accept this setting and adjust to a drama of psychology which may be interesting to some and utterly trivial to others!

I have given the production fours stars as a valiant effort was made of this difficult novel to make it accessible to a wider public without losing much of its complexity.