A Doll House

Screened were two film versions of this Ibsen play. The first, featuring Anthony Hopkins, was a more strict adaptation of the play. The second, featuring Jane Fonda, presented a broader vision of the play by using additional scenes and dialogue to expand the viewer’s understanding of the characters and their dilemmas. For simplicity’s sake, this essay shall refer to the films as “strict” or “broad” respectively, in order to identify them.

First, the original play’s impressions are quite different from the film versions in the reading. A reader is left only to the benefit of her own imagination while reading a play. It seems actually more like listening to an old fashioned radio show because it is mostly dialogue. But there aren’t even tones of voice with which we interpret so much conversation. There are no re

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Without an introduction, the plot is hard to grasp and it is much easier to criticize the characters for surface impressions than to empathize or understand them. One thing that is common and successfully reproduced in both films is the evolution that exists in the plot for the lives of these characters. The characters seem one-dimensional. My conclusion, as one not accustomed to plays or theatre, is that a script is the original physical reality of a play but that it takes the winds of theatrical talent to breathe life into it. Jane Fonda portrayed the subtleties of Nora’s discomfort quite well which is the second reason for the strength of this version. Nora and her marriage also become more textured because of this added dimension of background.

The strict film adaptation confined itself largely to a set approximating a stage set. The stage setting adds to the unreal effect. It is beneficial in that is strongly supports Ibsen’s presentation of these people as actors in their own lives. That variation depends on exactly what the director wants the audience to perceive. Her husband reads as disinterested, his affections just that, affected. hearsed or measured pauses which create a very frenetic impression of many of the characters – especially Nora. The film incorporated background on the characters. It is easier to see the relationship between the two as one in which they participate in the ‘arrangement’ somewhat consciously.

Common topics in this essay:
Strangely Grogstad, Jane Fonda, Nora Nora, Film Presentation, Anthony Hopkins, play featuring, film versions, jane fonda,

Approximate Word count = 621
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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