Down-on-his-luck artist, Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten), finds inspiration in a peculiar young girl named Jennie (Jennifer Jones) that he meets in the park. She speaks of things that have been gone for years. Each time Adams runs into her, she has aged many years, and Adams begins to suspect he is falling in love with a ghost.
A romantic mood piece, Portrait of Jennie doesn’t work as a movie, but as the painting it is trying so desperately to be. The story is thin, with little happening for long stretches until an ending where nothing is wrapped up. For anyone who can’t follow the simple plot or work out Adams’s emotional states (depressed for most of the film), there is a cliché-ridden narration. Then there is Jones, who is a beautiful and very believable woman in her late twenties. When she plays Jennie as a child, she looks like a woman in her late twenties, with silly hair. When she plays Jennie as an adolescent, she still looks like a woman in her late twenties, now dressed as a teen. It is a relief when the character’s age catches up with Jones.
It sounds as if I didn’t enjoy this film, but that’s not true. Different films have different things to offer, and this one has atmosphere, romance, and distinctive art direction. Many scenes look like paintings, with visible canvas patterns appearing vaguely over scenes that should be framed. “Dreamy” is a fitting description, which may have been producer David O. Selznickch’s intention (Jennie could be the dream of the lonely spinster (Ethel Barrymore) who is too old for Adam in her normal form). The tinting of this b&w film’s later scenes, and the final full color shot of Jennie’s portrait, only add to the dream-like aura. Watching Portrait of Jennie brings me the same sensation I get when viewing a beautiful and complex painting. This is a film which will entertain the right side of the brain, but should never be considered with the left.