The Age of Innocence (1993)

Martin Scorsese does not sound like the logical choice to direct an adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel about manners and morals in New York society in the 1870s. But these are mean streets, too, and the psychological violence inflicted between characters is at least as damaging as the physical violence perpetrated by Scorsese's usual gangsters. At the center of the tale is Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), a somewhat diffident young man engaged to marry the very respectable May Welland (Winona Ryder). But Archer is distracted by May's cousin, the Countess Olenska (a radiant Michelle Pfeiffer), recently returned from Europe. As a married woman seeking a divorce, the countess is an embarrassment to all of New York society. But Archer is fascinated by her quick intelligence and worldly ways. Scorsese closely observes the tiny details of this world and this impossible situation; this is a movie in which the shift of someone's eyes can be as significant as the firing of a gun. The director's sense of color has never been keener, and his work with the actors is subtle. That's Joanne Woodward narrating, telling us only as much as we need to know--which is one reason why the climax comes as such a surprise.--Robert Horton Amazon.com essential video

ON MY TOP FIVE LIST OF MY FAVORITE FILMS

I did my senior research paper on the original Edith Wharton novel, and the film is so faithful to her original language and vision that I was nearly knocked backward by the brilliance of this ravishingly intoxicating film. All of the symbolism of the novel is here, including the colors and flowers associated with May and Ellen respectively. Whenever I read the novel, I always see Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day Lewis as the ill-fated lovers in my mind, and I very much wish that Michelle Pfeiffer had been been honored with the Oscar for Best Actress for what is very much her finest performance to date. Besides Pfeiffer and Lewis, the rest of the cast is spell-bindingly brilliant, without a weak link in sight. All in all, this is the most faithful adaptation of a novel ever put on film, and the most visually breathtaking with what is one of the best scores ever composed for a film. The costumes in themselves are works of art, and the Academy Award for Best Costume Design was thoroughly deserved. I thoroughly believe that if it hadn't been released the same year as Schindler's List, it would have won Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress hands down. I just wish more people knew about this masterwork from one of the most brilliant directors still left in Hollywood. Wharton, had she been present, would have applauded the film version of her brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning novel enthusiastically. September 5, 2008

A Breathtaking Departure for Scorsese

More renowned for his action and crime films, "The Age of Innocence" just happens to my favorite of Scorsese's works. It isn't perfect, but it's very, very good. Based on the eponymous novel by the great American writer, Edith Wharton, the film exposes the unwritten but ironclad social mores, and their attendant hypocrisies, of upper-class New York society in the late nineteenth century. Therefore, this film required the director to make his points in a subtler manner than we are accustomed to seeing from Scorsese. On that score (subtlety), I know some Wharton fans who were outraged by Scorsese's imposition of the voiceover (beautifully handled by Joanne Woodward) throughout the film, but this didn't bother me.

The film's central character is Newland Archer (Daniel Day Lewis), a respected lawyer and member of one of New York City's oldest and best-connected families. Although Newland harbors a more questioning view of his social circle than its other denizens, he feels his membership in this circle strongly enough to honor what he feels are the best of its traditions. His recent engagement to May Welland (Winona Ryder), a fresh, pretty, and irreproachable young girl from a family exactly like his own, expresses Archer's solidarity with those traditions. May is unimaginative and, in her demure way, extremely controlling, but Archer does not seem to expect a wife who embodies all May's virtues, yet shares his interest in art and books, and who can also join him in privately questioning the way things are always done in their world.

As the film opens, May's cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), has just arrived in New York City from Europe, fleeing an abusive, dissolute, and unfaithful husband. She hopes to divorce him and re-establish herself close to her family in New York. Ellen is the "black sheep" of the Welland/Mingott clan - her somewhat bohemian parents dragged her around Europe as she grew up, lavishing on her, as her grandmother Mingott puts it, "an expensive but incoherent education". Nevertheless, Granny Mingott, the matriarch of this family, dotes on her unusual and artistic granddaughter and shelters her. Very quickly after meeting Ellen, Newland sees in her the depth, charm, sophistication, and passionate nature that he might have wished for in his own wife, and he recognizes the difference in the feelings she arouses in him from the ones engendered by May.

Newland's rapidly growing feelings for his soon-to-be cousin are further complicated by his law firm's request that he handle the matter of Ellen's divorce. But their preferred method of his handling it, as they instruct Newland, is to dissuade Ellen from seeking one at all. Thus, Newland is placed in the awkward position of persuading Ellen not to pursue the very freedom that would make her legitimately available to him. The Count Olenska has apparently forwarded letters to New York accusing Ellen of adultery with his secretary (Jonathan Pryce), who in reality simply helped Ellen escape her husband's reach. As Newland points out to Ellen: "Our laws favor divorce, but our social customs do not, especially if the woman has appearances in the least degree against her." Ellen insists that the Count's letter is full of lies, but she reluctantly agrees to follow Newland's advice, and decides to spare the family potential scandal by not seeking a divorce. Ellen's acquiescence is also rooted in her growing reciprocal feelings for Newland, whose blend of compassion, thoughtfulness, and integrity has touched her.

Thus, an impossible situation arises: Newland and Ellen have fallen in love, but as she has agreed not to divorce the Count in order to spare her family embarrassment, there is no point in Newland breaking his engagement. The trapped and embittered Newland sees no other destiny for himself than to go through with his marriage to May. He does so, and tries to put Ellen out of his mind as he and May embark upon their married life. But a series of incidents brings Ellen and Newland close together once more, and eventually those around them, including May, discern the feeling between them, and conclude that they are lovers (although Newland and Ellen never do consummate their love).

The social circle of hypocrites and moralists rallies around May and brings about a final separation between Newland and Ellen without anyone, including May, uttering aloud the slightest accusation of adultery. May's only interest is in salvaging her marriage and keeping her husband, and her careful control of her inner feelings, and her production of her trump card at the eleventh hour, in the form of her early pregnancy, seal Newland's fate.

The performances are excellent all around. Day Lewis is deeply affecting as the conflicted and trapped Newland. Michelle Pfeiffer, as Ellen Olenska, gives a heartfelt performance, despite seeming oddly unsuited to period costume - she walks awkwardly in the long dresses and bustles of the era. But she conveys the charmingly impulsive nature, depth of feeling, and capacity for sacrifice that so endears Ellen to Newland. The role of May Welland was one of Winona Ryder's best performance (she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress for it). Ms. Ryder does not have much range, but this quality was perfect for May, the hallmark of whose persona is "a hard, bright, blindness". The era's social mores are are also referenced by subplots, most notably the problematic marriage of Julius and Regina Beaufort (a strong performance by British actor Stuart Wilson as Julius). A group of exceptional supporting actors rounds out the cast: Mary Beth Hurt (Regina Beaufort), Geraldine Chaplin (May's mother), Sian Phillips (Newland's mother), Alec McCowen (Sillerton Jackson), and Richard Grant (Larry Leffert). Miriam Margulies is outstanding as Granny Mingott, and viewers with long memories may be touched to see the elegant Alexis Smith in a cameo as the elderly, aristocratic, Louisa Van der Luyden.

The production is not merely beautiful, it is breathtaking. Nothing was spared to illustrate the sumptuous material values of this small circle who inhabited the azure realms of New York society at the time, the solid descendants of successful Dutch and English settlers. The exquisite food, flowers, jewelry, clothing, china, and silver, are themselves a feast for the eyes. Unsurprisingly, the film won an an Academy Award for its costumes, which are ravishing. The late Elmer Bernstein's somber ironic score was also nominated for an Oscar, as was the script done by the director and Jay Cocks.

The pace of the film has been called slow, but this reviewer did not find it so; rather, the pace allows room for a welcome (and these days, distressingly rare) establishment of character, which in turn lends the film richness. It is true that Wharton's novel is still more nuanced than this film, but it would have been impossible to convey all the subtle nuances expressed there in any film. In this reviewer's opinion, Scorsese did an excellent job of bringing to the screen Wharton's cautionary tale of the price exacted by society for comfortable membership: for some, the betrayal of the self.


March 25, 2008

SIX STARS

One of Martin Scorcese's best, and that's saying a lot. Reams could be written about it; the costumes, sets, even the plates of food - the controlled, seething passion of Daniel Day-Lewis. This is his best since "The Incredible Lightness of Being". Another book turned into great film. I loved every moment, word, breath. Truly captures Wharton's book. And the flavor of early New York City, at least it's upper crust. Much credit should be given to Winona Ryder here. A very nuanced performance. Watch her face. November 4, 2007

Scorsese's beautifully filmed AGE OF INNOCENCE

We often forget that long before THE DEPARTED,THE AVIATOR and GANGS OF NEW YORK, director Martin Scorsese and the same crew made a sumptuous and beautifully intoxicating THE AGE OF INNOCENCE in 1993.This film is so intricate with each little detail that to revisit it from time to time is to savour,marvel and appreciate a true work of art of the highest degree.The story,set in the 1870's about the cutthroat world of New York High Society is not just another period piece costume drama; but rather a look into the makings and trappings of the wealthy elite.As a huge fan of Scorsese's films, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is arguably his most passionate film.WARNING: no one gets killed and there are no guns!...but as Scorsese loves to film about his favorite subject, his beloved New York City, here he draws inspiration from the Edith Wharton novel in order to illustrate the "other side of the coin" to the ultra-violent THE GANGS OF NEW YORK. These two films together capture a good look at Scorsese's enigmatic city.

Apart from the repressed love,suppressed sexuality,convention and ridicule that is at the heart of this story (which may bore some to tears), THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is filled with the outstanding cinematography of Michael Ballhaus (THE DEPARTED, GANGS OF NEW YORK,GOODFELLAS,LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST); production design by Dante Ferretti (THE AVIATOR,KUNDUN,TITUS and the upcoming SWEENEY TODD); a soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein (FAR FROM HEAVEN,WILD,WILD WEST,TRADING PLACES); and an Oscar win for costumes by Gabriella Pescucci (CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY,ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA,INDOCHINE): and finally, above all, the amazing editing of Thelma Schoonmaker (back to back Oscars for THE AVIATOR and THE DEPARTED).These reasons alone make this film SO worth while from standpoints other than screenplay.

For acting, the British character actress,Miriam Margolyes, won the BAFTA Award for best actress in the role of Mrs. Mingott.Ms.Margolyes was featured in such films as LADIES IN LAVENDER,MODIGLIANI,BEING BEING JULIA,IMMORTAL BELOVED,REDS and YENTL. This is a woman with a long and distinguished career who you see everywhere,recognize her unmistakable face and bulk, but never know her name.

For people that enjoy production values of a film, this nine time Oscar nominated film is on my TOP FIVE list.The fact that the 100% of those involved in this film all eventually won Oscars for other works shows that this is a film designed by an immensely talented crew.
For me, this is Martin Scorsese's PERFECT 10 above his long line of 9.9's.....and no guns...go figure! watch it! Unfortunately there are no DVD extras.That will probably come in a later release. October 27, 2007

Such a beautiful film...

I really enjoyed this movie. I watched it after I read the novel and it really made it come to life before my eyes. They story's wonderful, of course, but I really loved the intricate costumes and lavish sets. August 4, 2007

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