kailey-bedrick Review of A Doll's House

A Doll's House (I) (1973)

"A Doll's House" is based off the play written by Henrik Ibsen.

[5/10 · 24 April 2014]

"A Doll's House" is based off the play written by Henrik Ibsen. I think the movie did a good job portraying the play. It was very on point and followed the play well. The movie takes place in the Helmer house during Christmas and shows how back in the day women didn't have many rights. The movie takes the audience through the lives of many characters. The main characters would be Torvald (Anthony Hopkins) and Nora Helmer (Claire Bloom). All throughout Nora's life she has been treated like a doll. It started with her father when she was a child. Her father would just play with her and not treat her like she should have been. That also goes for Torvald. He doesn't treat Nora like he loves her and he is rude to her. Nora is not very aware of her mistreatment from Torvald until she realizes that he is just like her father. Torvald gets a new job in a bank where he is making a lot more money. Because he is making more money, Nora goes out and buys the kids some Christmas presents. Torvald tells Nora that she is spendthrift which is when she realizes she is being mistreated. Before all of this, Nora saved Torvald's life but she doesn't tell him because she is afraid that he will have to owe her something for it. To save Torvald's life Nora has to do something illegal. Someone (Krogstad) knows this and tries to blackmail her into helping him keep his job. While all this is going on Nora gets a visit from an old friend (Kristine). She has come to ask for a job where Torvald works. Nora tells Kristine that she can get a job there but the job she would take would be Krogstad's. That is when Krogstad decides to blackmail Nora about the illegal thing she did. He tells her that he will go to the police and tell them what he knows. Krogstad wrote Torvald two letters telling him what he knows. When Torvald read the first letter he was very upset with Nora and told her she was just like a child and that she was never to seen her children again. Then he reads the other letter and now is more forgiving and decides to tell Nora that he does forgive her and that they should just put this behind them and move on. Nora tells Torvald that she doesn't want to do that and that she is going to leave him and their children because they would all be better off without her. She goes back and forth about this idea and in the end she decides something that will surprise you. So you need to go watch the movie or read the play to figure out what happens.