A Doll's House (1973)

Without telling her husband (David Warner), a young wife (Jane Fonda) forges her dead father's signature on a loan in order to finance a trip to Italy that is required for her husband's health. But one Christmas, things come to a head when her husband, the head of a bank, dismisses an employee (Edward Fox) from his job. The very man who loaned the wife the money and now he demands she influence her husband to give him his job back or he will reveal her indiscretion to her husband. This film adaptation of the landmark Henrik Ibsen play, one of two released in 1973, is imperfect. Mainly because in an attempt to make the film more cinematic, the director/producer Joseph Losey and screenwriter David Mercer (Resnais' PROVIDENCE) have opened up the play and added unnecessary scenes that were never part of Ibsen's intent and which bring nothing relevant to the narrative. The structure of Ibsen's play is perfect and needs no embellishment or creative additions. In the film's favor, the Norwegian locations provide an authentic atmosphere and the film is very well acted. As expected, Fonda brings both a girlish naivete and neurotic intensity to the character of Nora. As for Losey's direction, it's barely adequate. Michel Legrand did the dull underscore and Edith Head did Fonda's striking costumes. With Delphine Seyrig and Trevor Howard.