The Bostonians

After adapting one Henry James novel in 1979, the Merchant Ivory creative team returned to the same fertile ground with this tale of the impact of women’s suffrage on society. Boston, 1876: At a Women’s Movement meeting, fiercely independent Olive (Vanessa Redgrave) becomes a mentor to gifted young orator Verena (Madeleine Potter) — who soon attracts the amorous attention of Olive’s Southern cousin Basil (Christopher Reeve). The contesting demands of courtship and sapphic friendship in this love-triangle in all but name are further complicated by New York society matron Mrs Burrage (Nancy Marchand), who tries to secure Verena for her son. Merchant Ivory explores the subtle power struggles between sex, class and the Women’s Movement at the heart of Henry James’s classic novel with delicate precision and a marvellous sense of social milieu.