Oh, You Militant Doll

It sounded like a natural. Make a movie adaptation of a classic domestic drama (A Doll's House) by one of the earliest analysts of the modern woman's dilemma (Henrik Ibsen). In the leading role of Nora, cast the most glamorous of Women's Lib heroines (Jane Fonda). Have it directed by Joseph Losey (The Go-Between), a sympathizer with the feminist cause. Shoot it on location in the Christmas-card setting of Ro/ros, Norway, and bring in such supporting players as David Warner (Nora's husband, Torvald), Trevor Howard (Torvald's friend, Dr. Rank), Edward Fox (the blackmailer, Krogstad) and France's Delphine Seyrig (Nora's girlhood companion, Kristine). Terrific, right? Says Losey: "I hated every bloody minute of it." TIME's Jesse Birnbaum, who was on hand for some of the action, explains why:

Jane came on flanked grimly by Delphine Seyrig--an ardent liberation-ist--and American Nancy Ellen Dowd, a part-time editor and Jane's full-time ideologue for women's rights--the sort of girl who goes around flashing her well-fingered copy of Ellen Frankfort's Vaginal Politics. Jane suggested that Nancy should be hired by the movie company. She was, at $350 a week.

But stars are never satisfied. Addressing Director Losey, Jane declared solemnly: "We have serious objections to the script." These came mainly in the form of voluminous notes, written largely by Nancy. They demanded no fewer than 70 pages of changes in the 104-page script. As a result, Losey nearly lost Screenwriter David Mercer, who, according to one member of the company, was "utterly humiliated" by the ordeal.

Losey did lose two precious weeks of rehearsal as well as his temper. Once, he ordered Delphine Seyrig off the set for interfering; on another occasion, he threw Nancy Ellen Dowd out of a script conference for the same reason. The entire project, in fact, nearly lost Losey, who would have quit had he not undertaken an extensive financial stake in the film.

The script changes were either attempts to improve on Ibsen (Jane wanted the line "the law is wrong" to become "the law should be changed"), or they were insertions of stagey speeches that had been cut for the sake of cinematic fluidity. Losey, who objected to the "platform tone" in which Fonda performed these insertions, recalls: "Ibsen says everything five times, so three times in the film was more than enough. Jane wanted it said all five times."

Jane also implied that the adaptation had been written by a misogynist. Torvald, Rank and Krogstad--all the men--had been portrayed much too sympathetically. The script failed to reflect a true understanding of women, especially their relationship with one another as expressed in the scenes between Nora and Kristine. Jane devoted long hours to working out these scenes with Delphine. So much did the two women kiss and touch each other before the camera that Director Losey had to complain about the unwarranted intrusion of lesbianism into the story.

At the laborious script conferences, Jane kept insisting, "I understand because I'm a woman." She speculated on how much more interesting it would have been for women to have written, directed, and edited the film, but it was too late for that. For that matter, it was a source of constant astonishment to Jane that a man had been able to write the play in the first place. "Now I know what it feels like to be a nigger," groused one of the leading men. Almost daily, Jane would announce to some actor as she arrived on the set: "Here are some new cues for you."

Except when the script required her to do so, or when she was issuing new cues, Jane never spoke to any of the male actors in the production. "My God, I never even met the woman!" roared Trevor Howard after leaving Norway. The only man in R0ros who saw her socially was her house guest (and now husband), Radical Leader Tom Hayden.

What is most surprising is that after those five frantic weeks in Norway, Joe Losey--back in his home base of London--is convinced that he has "an exceptionally good picture." It is scheduled for release in the U.S. next fall. He believes that some of Jane's changes actually helped improve the movie, and that her acting for the most part was "superb." It is also true that he "covered" himself with supplementary scenes in such a way that he can cut out Jane's verbosity in the editing wherever it gets in the way.

Her last scene in Ro/ros never got on film. She arrived 90 minutes late to a farewell party given by Losey for about 250 residents of the town. After she sat down at one of the tables, an angry member of the film crew scolded her for her behavior. "I'm a cardholder in the British Communist Party," he concluded somewhat irrelevantly, then added, "and I think you stink." Jane instantly burst into tears and left the party. Nobody heard a door slam.

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