Eben's career fortunes turn when he meets Jennie (Jennifer Jones) in the park. A ravishing brunette, she immediately decides that nice-guy lonely heart Eben will be her future husband, "as soon as she grows up." This happens fairly quickly, as her character ages from 10 to 20 in the space of a few brief appearances.
By now the audience has surmised that Jennie died in a boating accident years ago, and is a ghost either haunting or inspiring Eben, depending upon your perspective. Either way, she is good for his career, as his painting of Jennie is a hit. But their relationship has little future in this life. Cotten attempts to rectify this by returning to the site of her death on its anniversary, during a raging storm.
How others will see it. Portrait of Jennie was the fourth film within four years starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten. (The others were Since You Went Away, Love Letters, and Duel in the Sun. Perhaps audiences had tired of the bland chemistry between world-weary Cotten and sweet simpleton Jones. The 14-year age gap didn't help, although Cotten was three years younger than her starmaker husband Selznick. In any event, the movie was commercially unsuccessful.
But it did win an Oscar for Best Special Effects, presumably due to the weird green tint during the lighthouse storm. The sole other nomination was for its black and white cinematography. The Venice Film Festival was kinder, granting Cotten a Best Actor award.
Overall, it was a mildly disappointing chapter for Jones in her partnership with husband David O. Selznick, who had been the Svengali for her career since its rebirth with the lead of The Song of Bernadette (1943). However, excellent movies lay head, particularly Carrie (1952).
Today at imdb.com, Portrait of Jennie is regarded favorably. It has a respectable 4232 user votes and a high user rating of 7.8. The key demographic of women over 45 grade it 8.1, and presumably care not a whit that the story is preposterous. The important thing is that it is romantic, something that Selznick knew all along.
How I felt about it. Selznick's attempts to transform Jennifer Jones into a Hollywood icon had the odd side effect of making Joseph Cotten an even bigger star. Here, he is in nearly every scene, yet is second-billed behind the ephemeral Jones.
The burden of carrying the movie is thus on Cotten's shoulders, but he is up to the task. His voice has gravitas, and he remains likable even when he is seemingly bent on self-destruction. The film is a romantic version of Jimmy Stewart's Harvey, only the invisible friend is a hottie brunette instead of an oversized rabbit. But while Harvey is less attractive, he proves more reliable company than Jennie, who makes Eben pine for her during interminable absences.