A Doll's House
The 1973 production with Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins
Reviewed by Gordon Kearns
Note: this review contains important plot elements (spoilers).
Interesting: as I understand, Ibsen specifically assigned the title, A Doll House to the play. I can kind of feel the difference, but in English "doll's house" might be a broader term that includes Ibsen's intent ... maybe not. It's not that important anyway; you never see or hear the term after the opening credits (or after you close the playbill). Last night I decided to revisit the movie; it'd been a long time since I'd seen it. This version is an almost literal reading of the play - few "director's liberties." A lot of people don't like plays on film - limited scope, too much dialog, little real action except moving here to there on the stage. In this case I think holding to the play was probably best. I view Ibsen as more a sculptor than writer. Editing would be like chipping off and gluing extra pieces onto a classic statue (Remember "The Goonies" where the kids tried to patch the broken "David"?). He designed every word, every movement, every piece of furniture, every costume as an integral part of the whole. I like plays. You start with a very defined and disciplined format: introduce the characters and give a sense of the conflict in the first act, develop the conflict and its complications in the second act, and slam home the denouement in the third act. "Slam home" is the operative phrase here. In A Doll's House you sense the tension early on in the play, in spite of Nora's light, fluttery, childish behavior. By the second act you know she's much more complex and artful than first impressions suggest - you actually can feel your own muscles tensing as her plight takes on the nature of inescapable. The final 10-15 minutes between Nora and husband Torvald slam you in the belly with unrelenting emotional intensity. It would be a mistake to classify the story merely as an early tale of women's empowerment; it has much broader implications that I'm going to have to think over before coming to my own satisfactory understanding.
Let's see: Torvald works at the bank, and as the play opens has just been named manager, which means a great increase in salary, position, and authority. He is a perfectionist who has no tolerance for others' errors, except for his wife Nora, who he believes has no more sense than a toy doll, but on whom he dotes all the loving attention one might give a precious doll. When he doles her household allowance and other moneys for special occasions (Christmas, etc.), he delights in her squirrel-like begging antics - in fact, he calls her his doll, his little squirrel, his little lark. Norvald also detests any dependence on others. Over and over he impresses on Nora that borrowing money only makes a person weak and subject to others.
Nora adores Torvald. But she harbors a dark secret that violates his most cherished principles. Years earlier, when he was very ill and the doctor said he would die unless he could get away to southern Italy for a rest, Nora had borrowed money from lawyer Krogstad to pay for the trip, pretending to Torvald that she'd inherited it from her dying father. Now she uses bits and pieces she scrapes from Torvald's doled cash to secretly pay installments to Krogstad.
Krogstad now works in a minor position at the bank, having lost his reputation as a lawyer for having committed forgery. He is also an old-old school friend of Torvald's. However, Torvald in his new position is firing Krogstad and placing in his position Kristine, a close friend of Nora's. The reason Krogstad is being fired is that Torvald can't stand his having once committed forgery - there is no forgiveness in Torvald's philosophy; also Krogstad has the effrontry to call Torvald by his first name, which Torvald sees as disrespect - he can't accept Krogstad as an equal. Now Krogstad wants to use Nora's I.O.U. as a lever for blackmail to get Nora to press her husband to get his bank position back. She doesn't worry about the money; she feels Torvald's new position will enable her to buy back the I.O.U.; however, when she had first borrowed the money, she had forged her dying father's name on the loan as a guarantor. This is Krogstad's lever. It should be noted that Krogstad is not by nature evil. He doesn't seek great profits from the blackmail, only his lowly job back. He is raising his children alone in near poverty conditions. He sends the fateful letter to Torvald with the story about Nora as a final way to blackmail him into retaining Krogstad to avoid scandal.
Dr. Rank is an old family friend of Nora and Torvald. He is dying. And he adores the ground Nora walks on. For a brief moment, Nora sees him as an out to her problem; he would give her anything if she'd but ask. In one of her first moments of self-realization, she doesn't.
Nora's friend Kristine Linde knows Krogstad. They had once been engaged, but she needed the money a better marriage should bring, and ditched him for a rich guy. But he died, leaving her penniless and sending her out to work for a living at whatever jobs she could get, which is how she landed the job at the bank. Now, feeling guilty and wanting to help Nora, she approaches Krogstad and re-kindles their romance, telling him she will take care of him and his boys. He sends a second letter to Torvald, cancelling Nora's debt and the attempted blackmail.
The story has two thunderous climaxes: when Torvald reads the first letter, and when Torvald reads the second. His intense, violent, unforgiving reaction to the first is an education for Nora, so that his relieved, now sweetly condescending and forgiving reaction to the second leads to one of the most famous exits in theater history ... when Nora walks out the door and doesn't turn back. Powerful stuff.
Good production under the perceptive direction of Patrick Garland. Excellent performances by Claire Bloom as Nora, Anthony Hopkins as Torvald, Ralph Richardson as Dr. Rank, Anna Massey as Kristine, Denholm Elliott as Krogstad, and Edith Evans as Anne-Marie.
or go to
An Explanation; Being Things; Childhood; Heroes; The Inner Spirit;
Elves I Have Known
Other Essays at Large: Movie Classics; Class of the Millennium;
My Book Reviews; My Stories
From Dorothy's Corner: For Dorothy
Comments: GKEARNS@prodigy.net