_{· The Finical Filmgoer ·}

Directed by James Ivory from a book by Henry James and a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, The Golden Bowl presents the viewer with a marvelously layered and complex story of sexual passion and its relationship to character.

A charismatic but impecunious Italian prince (Jeremy Northam) marries a beautiful, morally principled young American heiress (Kate Beckinsale). The prince would be known today as a "player", a romantic, who had previously enjoyed a short, secretive affair with the heiress' best friend, a chimerical and sophisticated American playgirl (Uma Thurman), who continues to burn with an obsessive passion for him.

To satisfy this obsession, Thurman insinuates herself into their lives, and marries, in desperation, Beckinsale's beloved billionaire father (Nick Nolte), an upright example of incorruptible American fiber and fortitude. Cunning, deceptive and worldly, she only wants to be near Northam, whom she seduces into a torrid affair against his better judgment.

The story examines the conflict between old European romantic dissolution as it comes up against new American high-minded virtue. Which approach to Love wins the war when Passion and Virtue are at odds with each other?

The battle is lavishly costumed and waged against a backdrop of exquisite luxury and wealth. The cast includes Angelica Huston and James Fox as friends of the family. The golden bowl itself is a Byzantine artifact, a would-be wedding gift, and a symbol of how something that is breath-takingly beautiful can be ruined — or is it exalted? — through a flaw.

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_{Finical Filmgoer Reviews:}

_{Salt (2010)}

_{Angels and Insects (1995)}

_{Secret Ceremony (1968)}

_{To Each His Own (1946)}

_{Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)}

_{The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)}

_{The Children (2008)}

_{Antonioni's L'Avventura (1960)}

_{They Came Back (2004)}

_{Ma mère (2004)}

_{The Staircase (2004)}

_{Mimic (1997)}

<sub>The Golden Bowl (2000)

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)</sub>

_{Edge of Darkness (2010)}

_{Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)}

_{It's Complicated (2009)}

 <sub>Goodbye Again (1961)

Antichrist (2009)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Smash His Camera (2010)</sub>