English-language adaptation of Albert Cohens epic Swiss tale of a tortured love affair between a high-ranking Jewish official and the protestant wife of one of his employees.
Belle du Seigneur features emotional, realistic, touching and serious
Fan of The Bostonians or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Bostonians
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The picture was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Costume Design and for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Vanessa Redgrave but failed to win an Oscar in either category.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The film takes place in 1875.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The film was made and released about ninety-nine years after its source novel of the same name by Henry James had been first published as a serial in 'The Century Magazine' in 1885-86 and then in novel form in 1886.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
This was the first film that Christopher Reeve made for Merchant Ivory Productions. The second was The Remains of the Day (1993).
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
During filming, actress Madeleine Potter noticed that one of her costumes had the name "Nastassja Kinski" sewn into it. As it turned out, the dress had originally been made to be used in the movie Tess (1979).
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
In the last scenes, a female journalist is introduced, by the name of Henrietta Stackpole, a character not in "The Bostonians", but borrowed from another Henry James novel, "The Portrait of a Lady", which was later produced as a film, but not by Merchant Ivory Productions [See: The Portrait of a Lady (1996)].
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
After Somewhere in Time (1980), this was Christopher Reeve's second period drama.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Christopher Reeve said of this film in his autobiography "Still Me" (1998): "[Producer] Ismail [Merchant] could only afford to pay me $100,000, less than a tenth of my established price at the time. I insisted that the money was not an issue, that this was the kind of work I ought to be doing, but my agent told me, 'If you do that picture with those wandering minstrels, it will be one foot in the grave of your career'. ... I cheerfully ignored their advice".
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Star Christopher Reeve has said that he was cast in this picture because director James Ivory had liked his work in Superman: The Movie (1978).
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Vanessa Redgrave replaced Glenn Close in the lead female role of Olive Chancellor. Close had agreed to play Olive but dropped out to film The Natural (1984). Close once said of this: "Finally, I got to play opposite every woman's fantasy, Robert Redford, and I never got to touch him!". Olive Chancellor was played in the end by Vanessa Redgrave who got Oscar nominated for Best Actress. There was a convincing belief prior to the ceremony that Redgrave would never win due to her controversial anti-Zionist spiel from her Oscar acceptance speech in 1977. According to Ivory, "I wanted as much as possible to have a completely American cast, but we were never able to work that out. We couldn't get a suitable American address to play that kind of part, so we sent Vanessa Redgrace the script, and she's marvelous. So I accepted her, English though she is with an English accent. In the 30s and 40s they used to hire English actors all the time for American films to play upperclass parts, remember? So I suppose I accept her on that basis.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Debut theatrical feature film of actress Madeleine Potter.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
During a sequence with a group of women suffragettes, Vanessa Redgrave's daughter, Joley Richardson, can be spotted standing behind her mother.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Director James Ivory was a big fan of The Bostonians (1984)'s source novelist Henry James and had read all his novels.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Madeleine Potter received an 'introducing' credit on the movie's poster, but not during the opening titles.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
In the same year that this picture debuted, actor Christopher Reeve also acted in a stage production of another Henry James story adapted from his 1888 novella "The Aspern Papers". The play was produced and performed at the Theatre Royal in Haymarket in London, England. It starred Dame Wendy Hiller as Juliana, Christopher Reeve as Henry Jarvis and The Bostonians (1984) leading lady Vanessa Redgrave as Miss Tina. This stage adaptation was written by Sir Michael Redgrave, the father of Vanessa Redgrave, the latter of whom was awarded the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Revival.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Vanessa Redgrave was director James Ivory's first choice for both the lead roles in The Europeans (1979) and The Bostonians (1984). With The Europeans (1979), Redgrave was unavailable due to other commitments, and with The Bostonians (1984), Redgrave originally declined, and Glenn Close was cast. Then Close withdrew, due to being offered The Natural (1984), the part was then re-offered to Redgrave, who accepted.
The Bostonians - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
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