Psychological Realism in Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996)

Author(s): Sima Gharibey

Institution: PhD in English Literature, Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Persian Gulf University, Iran

Category: Article, IJMMU

Topics: Psychological Realism; The Portrait of a Lady (1996); Adaptation; The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James

Abstract: This article studies Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996) from the perspective of psychological realism and analyzes this cinematic adaptation of The Portrait of a Lady via semiotics, images and symbols deployed in the light of psychological realism. Henry James’s novel The Portrait of a Lady has variously been adapted into several films. However, Campion’s film seeks to question rather than reproduce the stereotypes. This is achieved by shifting attention away from the narrative and focusing instead on the characters, chiefly the focal character, and their reactions.

Article can be downloaded here >> Psychological Realism in Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996) | Gharibey | International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding