Nora

To me this was a story of a very troubled couple. The man James Joyce a soon to be famous writer in his earlier years, horribly insecure. The woman Nora Barnacle, a willful sexually risky young woman of her time, with a troubled past. They meet on the street and not being of the same "class" initially the relationship is very uneven. Soon however, they run off to Italy to escape not only both their pasts, but the puritanical restricts of Irish society of the day.

As their relationship is fierce, so is its ups and downs. They have children and James Joyce being a struggling writer takes much of his failures to heart and drowns them in the bottle. Needless to say this does not improve things. They are often forced to rely on family for support.

A bigger twist is placed in the relationship when James is forced to go back to Dublin for financial reasons to support the family. The already insecure man, is rattled by his friends attempt to meddle with his relationship with the former maid, now the mother of his two children. Once they make up they find a peculiar way of mitigating their distance, by writing torrid letters to one another. These letters apparently now part of James Joyce's writing.

Soon however, when James returns to Italy, he riles things up locally and Nora leaves him to return to Ireland.

The story continues.

I found this hard to understand at times, you never really have a clue who James Joyce is from the movie. I guess it is assumed you know. I don't. What triggers the initial attraction is also unexplained. Also surprising is the forwardness of Nora, so early in a budding relationship. Much is left very open. You don't see why Nora puts up with James, he is very cold to her and often very obnoxious. It seems more a sexual obsession for both. Needless to say, both come across as very self-centered and immature throughout the whole of the movie.

I gave it 3 stars because I felt things were not tied up well. The acting was well done, but the screenplay was lacking.