THE BOSTONIA NS
Bottled emotions pass as sleeping pills

preach... you always want to please so-

4 © presen. believe you mean what you

meone, it’s not really you,’ confides the
conservative southern gentleman Basil Ransone

(Christopher Reeve) to

the warm-hearted but

wavering advocate of women’s rights, Verena Tar-

rent (Madeleine Potter).

The very beautiful Verena
is not alone in her failure to
convince Basil or anyone
viewing The Bostonians of
her sincerity. The entire cast
makes Boston look boring.

The producers of The
Bostonians may have done
better to bottle the emotions
of the cast and sell it as sleep-
ing pills for those who suffer
from insomnia.

Based on the novel by
Henry James, The Bosto-
nians takes place in 1875, ina
young and feverish American
society where new ideas for
feminism were forming.
Verena, the daughter of a
faith-healer, has the gift of
gab, no matter what she is
talking about. Her looks and
her ability to appear sincere
hold her audience spell-
bound. After hearing her
speak, an older and ardent
feminist Olive Chancellor
(Vanessa Redgrave) is
fascinated with her and sets
out to claim the young girl
for her own cause.

It’s the kind of plot that

By COLIN LAMONT

should have lit up the screen
with intensity and emotion.
Instead, the audience drifts
off, waiting for the excite-
ment to begin. Scene after
scene 1s filled with emptiness.
The only sparks that fly in
this film are from the fire-
works set off to celebrate the
Boston Tea Party (1873)
when Americans dressed as
Indians dumped British tea
overboard in Boston Harbor.

Vanessa Redgrave, while
iooking the part of the
tireless defender of women’s
rights, fails to ignite the im-
agination of her character.
Olive is not only ready to
claim Verena for the
women’s cause, but also for
her own friend and if she had
the courage, her lover. But
this is only hinted at in the
film, never exposed.

‘‘Of course I like you too
much,”’ admits the older
woman to her young protege.
‘“‘When | like, I lke too
much:’’

C3 - Friday, November 30, 1984 - North Shore News

The movie also sets up the
perfect battleground for
Verena’s affections, between

feminist’s stage and lock her
away as his wife, to be the
object of only his affections.

the expense of her own true
feelings. She is trapped, by
the times, by her friend Olive

the talent that was there, it
settled for putting a tght
straightjacket on the actors’

the southern lawyer Basiland ‘‘My plan is to keep you and by the natural attraction emotions, smothering them
Olive. But again, the few home and have a good time _ between herself and Basil. in a wooden and banal
scenes where both show their _—_— with you there,’’ he whispers The Bostonians had the Boston.

too few.
would without doubt
Verena from the

true feelings are
Basil
take

softly to the sensuous girl.
Verena, it is true, seems to
want to please everyone, at

cast to bring the sparkle of
the revolutionary times to the
screen, but instead of using

The Bostonians is now
playing at the Cineplex in the
Royal Centre Mall.

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