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The Portrait of a Lady
Metascore
61 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
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  1. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    [A] bold and brilliant rendering of Henry James' masterpiece.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    I think if you care for James, you must see it. It is not an adaptation but an interpretation.
  3. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    A fascinating portrait not only of a lady, but of the society and marriage that entrap, then attempt to destroy, her.
  4. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    A splendid adaptation that will be hard for the others to match. The Portrait of a Lady, directed by Jane Campion, brings intelligence and sensitivity to a story rich in psychological subtlety and sociological detail.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    70
    The Portrait of a Lady may not be up to this high standard, but it is never less than absorbing either.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Janet Maslin
    70
    Brilliantly eccentric even when it yields mixed results.
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    70
    A literary adaptation of exceeding intelligence, beauty and concentrated artistry, but one that remains emotionally remote and perhaps unavoidably problematic dramatically.
  8. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    70
    With this bold stamp [director Jane Campion] lays claim to the story that follows as wholly her own.
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    67
    In aiming for a new kind of lit-drama cool, Jane Campion freezes the warmth right out of Henry James' expansive heart.
  10. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    63
    Intelligent but exasperating, its monotonous tone will wear down even viewers who started out in its corner. [27 Dec 1996]
    All this critic's reviews
  11. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    63
    Jane Campion makes a beeline for the repressed sexuality, and loses the nuance. [17 Jan 1997]
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  12. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    60
    Ms. Campion has shown a gift for pictorialism -- static pictorialism; she's not a fluid filmmaker - and an abiding fascination with sexual repression. She brings both to this long, slow, distanced version of the Henry James novel. [27 Dec 1996]
    All this critic's reviews
  13. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Edward Guthmann
    50
    The Portrait of a Lady is a huge disappointment. It's a deliberately arty, overly formal exercise in emotional terrorism.
  14. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Barbara Shulgasser
    50
    A harmeless concoction.
  15. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Howe
    50
    This picture is oddly un-charged, indistinct and even long-winded.
  16. Empire
    Reviewed by: Angie Errigo
    40
    Remote, murky and interminable.
  17. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    30
    [An] unsatisfying mess.
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