The Age of Innocence
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Movie Reviews of The Age of Innocence
Movie Review: Is this worth two hours plus of your life? You bet it is!
Summary: 5 Stars
If it takes a well-made film to remind us of the neglected jewels in our culture's literary showcase, then let it be a work that does honor not only its source, but also its own medium. "The Age of Innocence" is such a film.The luxury of a novel is that it can be experienced in stages -- picked up and put down as time permits. A motion picture must capture us, enrapture us and return us to earth in time for the next meal. Thus, many of the subtleties of character that the novel has time to explore must, in the film, be inferred. Scenes that are free to languish interminably within the novel must often be omitted within the motion picture for the sake of economy. Their lessons elided must be ignored or transmitted in another fashion. The limitation that time places on the film has led some to perceive it as innately inferior to the novel. With this kind of defective logic we might conclude that the sonnet is an inferior literary form. It cannot be of worth without physical length and breadth. Hogwash! The length and breadth of any artform are measured in the breadth and depth of thought the work provokes. Or, as Raymond Chandler once wrote: "There are no viable and significant forms of art. There is only art, and precious little of that."
The challenge of the motion picture, when trying to translate the novel into a cinematic experience, is to stay true to the souls of the characters in the book. By doing so, whatever is lost in in the process of distillation, truth remains. Martin Scorsese proves himself full worthy of Edith Wharton's vision and in so doing, proves her worthy of his vision as well.
Exquisite! -- and at last on DVD! Get the DVD! Perfect casting, with Daniel Day-Lewis as Newland Archer, a New York socialite in the late 1800s torn between the social demands to marry for position and the inner burning for the love of a kindred spirit. Michelle Pfeiffer is the Countess Olenska, a refugee from a scandalous marriage whose imperviousness to and freedom from the demands and disdains of the social class kindles Newland's passion.
Winona Ryder is absolutely radiant as Newland's fiance, May Welland. She is the winning image of everything that is style and grace but has no ability to perceive the dimensions of Archer's inner world -- his artistic world. It is to Miss Ryder's credit that she plays her character as totally oblivious to her own intellectual vacuity. She is in every other aspect of her character and personality, a person to die for. A thousand other actors and directors would have allowed her single flaw to have negatively colored their entire rendering. Yet it is her otherwise flawless character that sustains the tension as Newland Archer must decide between these two beautiful women, with each plausible choice bearing its own compromise with imperfection.
Thank you, Mister Scorsese! You have honored yourself and us. From the lush production design by Dante Ferretti to the cinematography by Michael Ballhaus to the bridge narration of Joanne Woodward, there is not a false note here. For those who feel that two hours and eighteen minutes is "too long" to sit still, let me refer you to the movie "Amadeus," where the king is convinced that Mozart's work is too complex -- full of "too many notes." Mozart smugly acquiesces to the king, agreeing to take out the offending notes if only told which must go. "The Age of Innocence" is the perfect length -- just enough notes to tell the story and still remain true to the art of the film. If someone wishes less, I would refer them to the Cliff's Notes.
Movie Review: Scars of the Heart!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
A lush, period film....overly well-mannered characters...dialogue often not spoken much above a whisper....and this film was directed by Martin Scorsese, director of Goodfellows, the ultimate wiseguys movie about gangsters???? What's going on here??? What would a famed Mafiosi director know about a period comedy set in 1870's New York high society? Well, quite a bit, actually. Reportedly, Scorsese BEGGED for the chance to direct this epic, saying he grew up in a such a society, and understood it better than almost anyone else. The close-knit families, the strict codes of conduct and honor, a highly structured society lorded over by the most elite families; in short, there are many, many similarities between Edith Wharton's New York and Martin Scorsese's Big Apple. Wharton's society mavens use whispers and rumours instead of bullets to leave their heart scars, but the effect is the same: one must conform to this highly structured society or leave it. Daniel Day-Lewis is Newland Archer, the rising young lawyer and member of New York society whose evenings are spent at fancy-dress balls, the opera, and other social events. He marries beautiful but seemingly simple May Welland, played by Winona Ryder, and settles into a life most of us would envy. However, there is just one thing missing from this well-ordered world: passion. That passion comes from Europe one day in the person of the Countess Olenska, a cousin of May's separated from her loveless marriage to an aristocratic husband. There is an immediate attraction between Archer and Olenska, and as he and May seek to redeem her place in society, the two childhood friends begin an affair that, given the time and place and their stations in life, is doomed to fail. Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer are fabulous as the lovers, seeking to keep their encounters hidden from the rest of society. They are really soul-mates more than lovers, Olenska bringing to Archer's life the joire de vive that the always-prim and proper May can never give him. Winona Ryder is an absolute revelation as May. Everytime she comes on screen, the viewer is left to wonder: how much does she know and when does she find out? This high drama unfolds before one of the most sumptuous settings ever captured on film; the art and set decorators reportedly used period paintings to ensure the right look. Scorsese allows the story to unfold at a natural pace, just like reading a relaxing novel, except few novels contain a passion so tightly restrained that the characters are in eminent danger of making their entire world collapse for want of relief. There are plenty of delicious supporting characters as well; Mary Beth Hurt and Stuart Wilson as the Beauforts, another couple who broke this society's taboos and find themselves covered in shame; Michael Gough and Alexis Smith as the van der Luydens, the most influential family in New York, who do not fail to come to the Countess' aid in her time of need; and, best of all, Miriam Margolyes as society doyenne Mrs. Manson Mingott, providing much needed comic relief with her grand, imperious manner and her passel of pooches. Joanne Woodward makes a wonderful narrator to this intriguing world as the action unfolds at a stately pace through time and space (stately, but never boring!), finally climaxing in a Paris street scene that is incredibly moving in it's heartbreaking simplicity. So, if you want a fast-paced action thriller with plenty of explosions, go elsewhere. However, if carefully-paced, unrequited passion is your game, then get The Age of Innocence today. This movie just might leave a few scars on your heart!Movie Review: Martin Scorsese's Most Violent Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Martin Scorsese's film The Age of Innocence (1993) is an adaptation of a 1920 novel by Edith Wharton, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. Both, the novel and the film are set in upper class New York City in the 1870s.
The Age of Innocence is the movie that proves once again what a versatile talented, unpredictable, incredibly passionate, and artistically outstanding director Martin Scorsese is. Recently I saw for the first time Scorsese's comedy After Hours and was fascinated how masterful he was in creating a darkly funny surreal comedy. Now, after re-watching The Age of Innocence, I am sure that Scorsese has made one of the most beautiful, tragic, passionate, sensual, sexually charged screen romances ever, which is at the same time perfectly suitable for the whole family watching. It is PG rated, and the characters speak in refined, almost forgotten English. The director himself described The Age of Innocence as the "most violent" film he's ever made, clearly referring to the inner turmoil, disappointment and resignation the two main characters of this drama go through.
The material world Scorsese created and paints with his lenses is of incredible beauty. Michael Ballhaus' camera brings out the perfection of craftsmanship of every object it looks at: be it the costumes (Oscar statuette for Gabriella Pescucci who has dressed the heroes of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Der Name der Rose (1986), and Upon a Time in America (1984) to name a few), china, crystal, silver, flower arrangements, jewelry or furniture. The exquisite meals looked delicious and required a special food consultant who was mentioned in the film's credits. Or take for example these elegant leather ladies gloves with small buttons. Who would think that unbuttoning a glove on the hand of a beautiful woman slowly, tenderly, makes one of the most erotic scene ever filmed? The people who inhabited this world of beauty, comfort, and privilege seem the perfect happy creatures but not all is so perfect in the paradise. Two beautiful passionate people found love that could only happen once in a life time but the strict norms or society they live in and the unbending unwritten rules based on convention and hypocrisy they must obey won't permit them to follow their hearts freely, to fulfill their desire, and to be happy in that Age of Innocence. The cast is superb, and includes Daniel Day-Lewis, the film protagonist Newland Archer, Michelle Pfeiffer, as Countess Olenska, a woman with "a Past" who stole his heart, and very young Winona Ryder, May Welland, the girl whom Archer will marry. 22 years old Ryder very deservingly received the Oscar nomination for her performance. I would like to mention Joanne Woodward's subtle narrating of Edith Wharton's prose which is one of the high points of the film. IMO, the film has only high points and is Martin Scorsese fine (perhaps, the finest) and stunning achievement.
Movie Review: Manages to capture Wharton's NY perfectly
Summary: 5 Stars
Edith Wharton's "Age of Innocence" is about a world that no longer exists -- aristocratic New York, where a small circle of well-to-do families intermarried, gossiped, and went about the business of destroying each other, all the while maintaing the most exquisite civility. The story focuses on the ramifications when a Mingott "black sheep", Ellen Olenska, returns to town after a disastrous marriage to a cruel Polish count. Newland Archer is engaged to Ellen's cousin May, but finds himself drawn to the exotic, worldly Ellen. The unconsummated affair is a "secret" but like all secrets it is discovered, and New York society's response is swift, ruthless, and brutal.
Before Winona Ryder became notorious for a shoplifting incident, she was known as one of Hollywood's finest starlets. Her performance in Age of Innocence is proof that she was more talent than hype. She plays May Welland, an innocent schemer. If you've read Wharton's novel you know that May is the most ambiguous character -- what are her motives? Love? Status? Is she cold and calculated or a victim? Ryder, all doe-eyes and fluttery-voiced, manages to convey both May's strength and her ingenue appeal. There's a moment near the end of the movie when she looks up at her husband adoringly, tears in her eyes. Far from being heartwarming however, the moment will chill your bones.
Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer are the clandestine lovers Newland and Ellen, and if I have a complaint about both their performances it's that they seem to be doing "costume drama" acting rather than real acting. Meaning they're so reverent of the source, and so eager to seem "refined" and "sensitive" that ironically their romance lacks heat, and their predicament lacks the quiet devastation that seeps out of every page in Wharton's novel. Pfeiffer's Ellen is too glum, a bit too self-pitying. Compare this to her genuinely vivacious, sexy performance in the other costume drama, Dangerous Liasons. There's a reason why Ellen Olenska causes a scandal -- she has to be sexy and alluring, with a sharp sense of humor. Pfeiffer's Ellen in my opinion is too much of a sadsack. Daniel Day Lewis is better as Newland, but there's a stiffness to his performance that makes Newland seem even more remote and like a cipher. Of course one could argue that he's exactly right for a buttoned-up, milquetoast NY gentleman. But I think it's a mistake to be too tasteful in costume dramas. This is Edith Wharton, where the manners may be exquisite but the emotions are big, and the actions brutal.
Martin Scorsese did a remarkable job translating the subtle social observations of Wharton onto the silver screen. From the flick of a fan to the clink of silverware, no detail esacpes his attention. He also remained remarkably faithful to the novel's storyline. It's a loving, reverent adaptation. Mostly however I think this movie will appeal most to lovers of Wharton's novel. READ THE NOVEL. And then see the movie.
Movie Review: You loved me still the same
Summary: 5 Stars
It was a glittering, sumptuous time when hypocrisy was expected, discreet infidelity tolerated, and unconventionality ostracized.
That is the Gilded Age, and nobody knew its hypocrises better than Edith Wharton. And while you wouldn't expect Martin Scorsese to be able to pull off an adaptation of her novel "The Age of Innocence," this movie is a trip back in time to the stuffy upper crust of "old New York," taking us through one respectable man's hopeless love affair with a beautiful woman -- and the life he isn't brave enough to have.
Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), of a wealthy old New York family, has become engaged to pretty, naive May Welland (Winona Ryder). But as he tries to get their wedding date moved up, he becomes acquainted with May's exotic cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), who has dumped her cheating husband.
At first the two are just friends, but after Newland marries May, the attraction to the mysterious Countess and her free, unconventional life becomes even stronger, but he's still mired in a 100% conventional marriage, job and life. Will he become an outcast and go away with the beautiful countess, or will he stick with May and the safe, dull life that he has condemned in others?
Yeah, I kind of blinked when I found out that the subtle, bittersweet Wharton novel set in a gilded upper-crust New York... was being directed by the guy who also did "Raging Bull" and "The Gangs of New York." But fortunately Scorses sticks closely to the original novel -- we even have an omniscient narrator who quotes directly from Wharton's book as she describes New York society.
He preserves Wharton's portrayal of New York in the 1870s -- opulent, cultured, pleasant, yet so tied up in tradition that few people in it are able to really open up and live. It's a haze of ballrooms, gardens, engagements, and careful social rituals that absolutely MUST be followed, even if they have no meaning.
And he delicately brings out the powerful half-hidden emotions that the story revolves around. One great example: a sexy carriage ride where Newland slowly unbuttons Ellen's glove and gently kisses her pale wrist -- it's sensual and erotic without being explicit.
Day-Lewis gives the awesome performance you would expect -- his Newland is stiff and repressed, and nowhere near as awesomely unconventional as he thinks himself to be. Pfeiffer and Ryder don't physically look like May and Ellen, but they give excellent performances: Ryder plays a seemingly innocent, naive young woman who shows hints that she's a lot smarter than Newland thinks, while Pfeiffer plays a more worldly noblewoman who craves love and kindness.
"The Age of Innocence" is an exquisite painting of 19th-century New York's upper crust -- the hypocrisy, the beauty, and the sorrow. If only Scorsese would make more movies like this.