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THE MOVIE
Nora is a biopic about the relationship between James Joyce and his wife Nora Barnacle. Adapted by Pat Murphy, from Brenda Maddox’s book, Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom, Nora explores the woman who became Joyce’s wife and muse, a central inspiration for his work and in particular the female protagonists in his stories, from Molly Bloom in Ulysses to Anna Livia Plurabelle in Finnegan’s Wake. The two seemed to be like chalk and cheese, the erudite learned Joyce and the working class country girl who was semi-illiterate yet possessed a fire and a passion that was more than a match for Joyce’s intellect. The film explores their stormy passionate relationship from their first meeting in 1904 to the publication of Joyce’s work Dubliners in 1914.
Directed by Pat Murphy and starring Susan Lynch and Ewan McGregor as Nora and Joyce the film is disappointing. Nora and Joyce’s relationship never seems real and Nora’s role in inspiring Joyce is weakly drawn. Susan Lynch puts in a passionate committed performance but McGregor is far from convincing as one of Ireland’s leading luminaries, being more at home practising his singing than giving life to Joyce (Moulin Rouge being his next film), with his accent slipping in and out, and it seems a shame that funding for the film meant an Irish actor could not have been cast as Joyce (though it is not as far fetched as Mick Jagger being cast as Ned Kelly).
The key problem here is the script which feels under nourished and truncated. There are some interesting ideas here and you get the feeling that the story of Nora and Joyce is worth telling. One idea I was particularly struck by is Nora’s accusation that in writing about her Joyce is stealing her life, leaving her only the voice he gives her.
THE TRANSFER
Video:
Nora has been provided with a very poor video transfer (bit rate 4-6 mbps). Grain and artefacts abound and details are generally soft to the point of muddiness in places, particularly with blacks. Colours are generally ok but they are a little muted. While there is minor print damage throughout.
Audio:
A basic audio track has been provided (bit rate 192 kbps). Dialogue is generally clear and distinct and there are no lip synching issues. The score and other audio effects have been rendered ok but they are a little on the thin side.
THE EXTRAS
There are no extras included on the DVD. All that is included is the film's trailer. The UK release includes one extra which is some behind the scenes footage. On this basis the UK edition, subject to the quality of its video transfer, is probably the edition of choice though depending on the quality of the behind the scenes footage there may not in fact be much of a difference between the two editions.
SUMMARY
Nora is a biopic about the relationship between James Joyce and his wife Nora Barnacle. Starring Susan Lynch and Ewan McGregor as Nora and Joyce it explores their stormy passionate relationship from their first meeting in 1904 to the publication of Joyce’s work Dubliners in 1914. The film has been given a bare bones DVD release with a poor quality video transfer. |
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