Writing Feedback / Patrick Garland's movie based on "A Doll's House" - Film Analysis Paper [2]

Film Analysis Paper

In 1973 Patrick Garland directed a movie based on Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House. As the play goes Nora Helmer saves her husband's life by committing forgery. Throughout the movie we see how Nora deals with the secret, blackmail, and how the truth comes out. Nora plays a huge role in this film, and watching her character throughout is quite intriguing. Does this movie portray how some women would be during this time period or was Nora Helmer a one of a kind woman? I think any woman would have done what Nora did in her position, and her character to me signifies the rights women might not know they have, but do possess.

The movie opens up with Nora coming home to Torvald and right away we notice the kind of relationship they have. Just from there interaction, her acting almost like a pet, and him enjoying every minute of it makes you wonder if that is how Torvald sees Nora. It's almost as if he views her in a childish way, maybe they're just playful which makes you wonder about their supposed "fairy-tail marriage." It's different seeing their interaction with our own eyes then just reading it on paper and trying to imagine what it would be like. The movie definitely puts all the emotion and relationships into perspective. Although this seems to be how Torvald is with her we see how she would do anything for him.

The start of deception stood out to me macaroons in the movie than in the play. The macaroons that Torvald doesn't want Nora to be eating but still does I think signifies the deception and made me wonder what else she could be could be lying about. When reading the play to me the macaroons didn't really stand out. They were just something that Nora had bought that she shouldn't of.

We see how strong of a women Nora really is in the play, although when the secret is first brought up between her in Christine I somewhat questioned how close their relationship really is through the acting. Even though we know that they are supposed to be very close friends because we have read the play, the emotion between the two almost seems different. Christine seems to just stare at Nora and doesn't really show any emotion at all. To me they didn't really act like they were close. If I were watching it for the first time I wouldn't understand why Nora trusted her with such a big secret because I wouldn't know about how close they are supposed to be.

The strength I refer to though would be with Krogstad, when he comes to black mail Nora for a job at the bank. Nora did what any woman who loves their husband would do. Not only does her actions let her be somewhat blackmailed but when Torvald finds out we see his real colors, and how he really feels. This is the only scene of rage in the whole movie which I believe is very significant. He shows his rage and then tries to desperately fix everything. This brings Nora's transformation to life. She goes from the pretending wife to realizing their marriage isn't what it seems to realizing that she needed to find herself. This all gave her the courage to leave. Some may say she was selfish, but you cannot confine one person to a house for all their life. The whole movie basically takes place in the Helmer's household. This freedom Nora has now acquired is almost in the sense she's breaking down the barrier and done being trapped.

Through all of this the emotion in the characters is what brings the movie to life. Although I do believe some of it is hidden emotion because in scenes where you think there would be some kind of expression there really isn't. The play shows the significance of Nora's role, and her transformation through the whole thing. It would be a completely different movie and play without her character in it. Her character adds to the plot, theme, and overall conflict. Even though she deceives her husband she was a woman of intelligence and influence which made a great character.