The Europeans (1979 film)

The Europeans
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames Ivory
Screenplay byRuth Prawer Jhabvala
Based onThe Europeans
by Henry James
Produced byIsmail Merchant
StarringLee Remick
Robin Ellis
Wesley Addy
Lisa Eichhorn
CinematographyLarry Pizer
Edited byHumphrey Dixon
Music byRichard Robbins (score)
Clara Schumann (theme)
Production
company
Distributed byEnterprise Pictures
Release dates
  • May 1979 (1979-05) (Cannes)
  • July 1979 (1979-07) (UK)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,220,000[1]

The Europeans is a 1979 British Merchant Ivory film, directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant, and with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, based on Henry James's novel The Europeans (1878). It stars Lee Remick, Robin Ellis, Tim Woodward and Lisa Eichhorn. It was the first of Merchant Ivory's triptych of Henry James adaptations. It was followed by The Bostonians in 1984 and The Golden Bowl in 2001.

The plot follows the interaction between two European siblings and their American cousins. Facing hard times in Europe, Eugenia, a Baroness by marriage, and her younger artistic brother arrived for the first time in New England in the 1850s to meet their wealthy maternal uncle and their three cousins, the Wentworths. Their bohemian sophistication and alien ways dazzle some of their puritanical American relations and arouse suspicion in others.

The Europeans was the first of Merchant Ivory's period dramas, the genre for which they would become best known. Made on a modest budget, it nonetheless featured lavish costumes and sets, with top actors portraying genteel characters who suffer from disillusionment and tragic entanglements.

  1. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 297. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada