This is the third screen adaptation of a Henry James novel by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory — The Europeans (1979) and The Bostonians (1984). Three other novels by James have been translated to the screen: Washington Square, The Portrait of a Lady, and The Wings of the Dove. In this film, fans of the prolific American writer will relish variations on themes he has explored before — the cross-cultural clashes between Americans and Europeans, the importance of manners as a sign of character, and the personal struggle of individuals to express love and to stay true to their souls.

In 1903, the Italian Prince Amerigo (Jeremy Northam) has had an affair with Charlotte (Uma Thurman), an emancipated American. The penniless nobleman is about to marry Maggie (Kate Beckinsale), the daughter of the American billionaire Adam Verver (Nick Nolte), an industrialist and art collector. Charlotte, a school friend of Maggie's, travels to London for the wedding. She convinces Amerigo to accompany her in search of a present for his bride. They find a golden crystal bowl but he sees a small crack in it and rejects it.

In a ploy to be near to Amerigo, Charlotte marries Adam. Maggie, who has always been very close to her father, is ecstatic that her friend has in one swoop taken away his loneliness. Still, she spends a great deal of time with him. Charlotte and Amerigo use the father-daughter relationship as an excuse for their going to parties together, including a weekend away in Gloucestershire. Aunt Fanny (Anjelica Huston), who introduced Maggie to Amerigo but never revealed his past with Charlotte, becomes concerned about their affair but wants to protect the Ververs from learning about it.

Screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and director James Ivory vividly convey the exquisite world of these two couples as they move through sumptuous palaces and homes replete with famous paintings and luxurious possessions. It is quite fitting that a golden bowl is the chief metaphor in the drama. When Maggie eventually learns the truth about her schoolmate and her husband, she says: "I want happiness without a hole in it, a bowl without a crack."

Yes, that's what many couples yearn for but few are able to achieve it. Here, as in many of James's novels, money, possessions, and greed are toxins that can corrode love. They are similar to the poison paint chips that fell into the coffee cups of one of Amerigo's ancestors at his palace. But the biggest challenge in this story is attachment. The Ververs are so close to each other that they naively, or perhaps deliberately, refuse to notice what is happening between their spouses. Then when Amerigo chooses Maggie, Charlotte stubbornly refuses to believe him. Clinging becomes a stumbling block in both marriages. They need to give up their attachments before any of the characters can truly be themselves.

Nick Nolte steals the movie with his restrained performance as Maggie's powerful, smart, and protective father. Equally savvy is James Fox's witty performance as Aunt Fanny's patient husband whose quips and commentary on the games of the rich are worth savoring. "To be completely great," Henry James once wrote, "a work of art must lift up the heart." The Golden Bowl does not quite live up to Henry James's definition of great art but it does impress with its many moments of psychological finesse.