The Golden Bowl
Tags: flashback

Plot synopsis:
Dignified but impoverished aristocrat Prince Amerigo (Jeremy Northam), a Roman prince, is engaged to American socialite Maggie Verver (Kate Beckinsale). The two were introduced by a mutual friend, Mrs. Fanny Assingham (Anjelica Huston). Maggie shares an extremely close relationship with her millionaire father Adam (Nick Nolte), a widowed tycoon living in England who intends to finance the construction of a museum to house his invaluable collection of art and antiquities in America.
Prior to their engagement, and unbeknownst to his fiancée, Amerigo had a brief but passionate affair with a school friend of Maggie's, Charlotte Stant (Uma Thurman). The two separated because both were penniless, but Charlotte is still in love with him. When she arrives in London by surprise to attend the wedding, Amerigo takes her to an antique store in search of a wedding gift. The proprietor A.L. Jarvis shows them an ancient bowl, carved from a single piece of rock crystal and embellished with gold, which he asserts is flawless, but Amerigo thinks contains a noticeable crack. Charlotte is indecisive about buying it, and Jarvis sets it aside until she makes up her mind.
Several years pass, during which time Maggie and Amerigo have a son. Charlotte returns to England to pay the family a visit at their country home, but is left with Adam when the couple decide to visit Italy on the spur of the moment. Adam falls in love with Charlotte and proposes marriage, much to the delight of Maggie, who had been concerned about her father's loneliness. After the marriage the two couples find their lives closely interlocked, although the fact Maggie and Adam spend so much time together alienates their spouses. During a weekend house party in the country, Charlotte and Amerigo reignite their affair. Fanny becomes aware of the illicit romance but, wanting to protect Maggie from being hurt, says nothing. As time passes, however, Maggie becomes suspicious of the amount of time her husband and stepmother spend together.
In search of an unusual gift for her father, Maggie chances to wander into Jarvis' shop, and he shows her the bowl he had set aside for Charlotte years ago. Maggie agrees to buy it and asks that it be delivered to her home. When Jarvis discovers the barely discernible crack Amerigo had noticed, he brings it to Maggie himself, reveals the defect, and offers it at half price. While waiting for her in the drawing room, he recognizes Amerigo and Charlotte in photographs on a table, and he innocently reveals they were the couple who originally considered purchasing the bowl, three days before the wedding. Maggie realizes that the two were not meeting for the first time, as she had always assumed. She confronts Amerigo, who confesses to his past with Charlotte and to their affair.
When the Ververs retire to the country, Adam is noticeably distant. He suggests to Charlotte that they return to America to oversee the opening of his museum, though Charlotte is violently opposed to the idea. The tension grows worse after Amerigo and Maggie arrive with the Assinghams. Charlotte tries to convince Amerigo to run away with her, only to be rebuffed and told that he does not love her. Meanwhile Maggie and her father agree to separate for the sake of both their marriages. Although initially in great despair, Charlotte appears to reconcile to the idea of being with Adam, and the film ends with footage of the couple arriving to great fanfare in an unnamed American city.