Joseph Losey's 1973 adaptation of the play A Doll's House may not be the version that more closely fits what Henry Ibsen wrote in the 1989 play, but in my opinion I do think that it is a better movie than the adaptation filmed by Patrick Garland also in 1973. Whenever I watch a movie, something has to catch my eye in order for me to want to pay attention to it. I think that Losey's movie is better because the costumes and set designs are much more appealing than their counterpart in Garland's version.
To me the costumes in Losey's movie were much more visually appealing than those in Patrick Garland's version. To me, the outfits worn in Losey's movie seemed much more vivid and detailed. Nora was supposed to come off as if she was really concerned about material things. The dresses that Jane Fonda wore as Nora in this movie looked much more attractive and expensive than did the drab outfits of Claire Bloom in the other movie.
I also think that the set designs were very well done in this movie. The original play gave off the impression that Nora was supposed to feel trapped in a doll's house, but I liked the fact that the film makers did not just stick to the play setting. I enjoyed the openness of the scenes in this movie because I had much more to look at when watching this film. For example, there were several scenes out in the open snow like when Nora was playing with her children on the hills, and this was very visually appealing. When I watch a movie, I tend to get bored if the scenes do not change very much; this film had several different scenes, which was much different from Garland's version.
I realize that some movies do not have a very big budget and cannot afford elaborate costumes and set designs, but this is what I like to see in movies. Even though the other version of A Doll's House stuck closer to the original feel of the play, I think that overall the movie directed by Joseph Losey was a better screen rendering of Ibsen's play than was Garland's treatment.