TV Movie - A Doll's House (Losey)

 TV Movie - A Doll's House  

Score : 6/10 

Year :  1973
Director: Joseph Losey 
Cinematography: Gerry Fisher
Music:  Rupert Gregson-Williams 
Country:  UK. France 
Language: English. 
Duration:  1h46 (IMDB). 1h42 (French DVD) 
Writers:   Henrik Ibsen (Play)  ; David Mercer (Screenplay) ; 

Michael Meyer (translation to English)

Full cast & team (IMDB)

Nora Helmer (Jane Fonda) has committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald (David Warner). Now, 8 years into her marriage, she is blackmailed and lives in fear of her husband's finding out and the shame such a revelation would bring to his career, as well as legal repercussions. Nora's friend Kristine (Delphine Seyrig) also shows up after many years absence, to support and help her through her ordeals. 

A Doll's House  is adapted - and apparently extends scenes- from a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, under the title Et dukkehjem.  It was published in December 1879, premiered in Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark , on 21 December 1879, and set in a Norwegian town circa 1879. The only time-marking event within this movie shows 1884, and could be somewhere around the middle of the story.  

The play and this movie adaptation (one of many, you'll see this further down this review) deals with the fate of a married woman, who at the time in Norway lacked opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated world. Nora's husband withholds access to many things in their home ; he also infantilizes her, and many times, abusive. 

This movie also deals with the question of her identity, symbolized by the very title and her life : Nora's like a doll, taking first her father's ideas, and then her husband's, but lacks a full-fledged identity as a person, as a woman. 

Sadly, 48 years since the movie elapsed,  142 since the original play, and the realities portrayed in the movie are, in many parts, still valid to this day, which is scary and frustrating alike. 

I love the symbolism towards the end of the movie, one fateful Christmas/end of the year masked ball, the masks finally coming off to reveals harsh truths. 

As a UK-Franch coproduction tv-movie, and rather low-budget from 1973, it's alright in quality. Its best aspects are acting from David Warner, Jane Fonda and Delphine Seyrig, and the storytelling. 
On the other hand, cinematography and music don't stand out in any way, but are alright nonetheless. I do wish the passage of time was better marked. 

The sound quality was rather poor, either due to the film's age, and/or transfer quality to the French DVD (EAN 3760121807106) borrowed at our library. 

I love the feminist tale and overall pace of this film and recommend it.  

Also starring : Trevor Howard, Edward Fox, et al. Full list linked in the movie specs above. 

NB  Ibsen's play had been adapted at least 8 times into films, as early as 1922 (a now-lost American Silent film, directed by Charles Bryant), the 8th in 2016. This includes both 1973 versions, this current, directed by Losey, and Claire Bloom's which was an American production. As a result, they actually both suffered commercially.

Additionally, 4 tv adaptations from 1959-1992, 3 radio ones in 1938, 1947 & 2012, 5 restaging which don't sound interesting to me, altering the entire premise, reducing the feminist aspects.