[1] Nigel Nicolson, son of Vita and Harold, originally sold the rights to his book to Patricia Hodge, who offered it to the BBC.
Whittaker found the story "quite remarkable" and said of the subjects: "They were trying actually to make some sense of their lives, to come to terms and explore themselves in very painful and joyous ways and to be at one with themselves."
"[2] John J. O'Connor, writing for The New York Times, praised the performances of McTeer, Harrison and Haig, and said: "Despite offering much to admire, Portrait of a Marriage eventually wears painfully thin.
"[3] In the Los Angeles Times, Howard Rosenberg also praised the performances, describing them as "first rate", but said that "Penelope Mortimer's adaptation is without joy, giving us no one to like or even care about".
[1] Tony Scott in Variety concluded his review by praising the production of the drama, including costume, design, filming, editing and music, and saying: "Visually and dramatically Marriage is terrif".