The Age of Innocence
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Movie Reviews of The Age of Innocence
Movie Review: Scorsese's beautifully filmed AGE OF INNOCENCE
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Ravishing
Summary: 5 Stars
Martin Scorsese directing a Merchant-Ivory film might superficially describe "The Age of Innocence," but it would do an injustice to both parties. This is a Marty movie through and through -- beautifully filmed, expertly acted, and thematically obsessed with guilt, passion, and moral failings.
In adapting Edith Wharton's classic novel of forbidden love in a repressive society, Scorsese has an anthropologist's obsessive eye for cultural detail -- the cutlery, the dainty dishes, the linen, the clothes. And of course the social rituals -- the after-dinner brandy & cigar, opera-going audience gazing, and the handwritten notes attached to bouquets of flowers. The attention to surface texture in the film has a transporting effect; it is one of the best period pieces ever made.
Time-traveling to an unfamiliar milieu freed Scorsese's aesthetic instincts. "The Age of Innocence" is hardly a polite study of quaint social customs; it is a passionate, adventurous film, dripping with color and breathtaking compositions. Scorsese revels in the texture of the world he and his collaborators have painstakingly recreated, a world where passions are lidded but bubble over in the form of colorful flower bouquets and passionate opera arias. This film belongs on a shortlist of the most physically ravishing films ever made (and not just because of Michelle Pfeiffer), but because Scorsese cuts loose with his painterly style of image-making.
Though a PG-rated period piece might seem like a departure for Scorsese, he observed that "This film deals with the same matters that can be found in my work in the last 25 years. There is guilt, desire, obsessed passion and the weakness to satisfy that passion." Notice how he describes the desire to satisfy passion as a "weakness." Where most directors would romanticize the love affair between Newland and the Countess, Scorsese sees it as doomed from the start, and he is careful not to make either character (especially Newland) too sympathetic. Newland has eaten of the fruit of passion, and the fact that Scorsese does not (necessarily) valorize his passion makes the film that much more interesting. Newland's choice was between duty and passion, honor and real love. A less astute, less interesting filmmaker than Scorsese would have made the choice a no-brainer, damn the consequences. For most modern storytellers, passion is paramount. Passion is freedom. For Scorsese, passion has a dark side. Although he recognizes the hypocrisy and barely-concealed vindictiveness of aristocratic society, there remains something recognizably Old World about his sensibilities.
Movie Review: So visually and emotionally rich, Scorsese's masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE is perhaps the highest achievement of its director, Martin Scrosese. Those who thought the subject matter (New York high society in the 1870's) does not fit the director's universe doesn't really know neither what Scorsese's films are all about, nor what he is really good at.This must have been a great challenge for Scorsese; not only that the book (by Edith Warton) is a truly great one, but also because everything that really happen in this story does not appear on the surface, but underneath it. But keeping his sharp eye on every each detail that constitute this society, Scorsese re-creates beautifully this world that does not exist any more and at the same time brings out the emotions that are hidden behind the brilliant gorgeous surface of the society.
There are no visual violence in this film, but in deep, this is probably the most violent and the most painful of all Scorsese film. The emotional pain, the violent intention hidden beneath the code of manners is certainly expressed, for those who are careful and intelligent enough to really see what's going on.
Production designer Dante Feretti (from Fellini and Pasollini movies) joins costumes designer Gabriella Pescucci to do a wonderful job in re-creating the gorgeous atmosphere of New York high society. Scorsese and his cinematographer Michael Ballhaus uses these sets and costumes so that the characters are entrapped surrounded by all those beautiful objects. Within this gold gilded cage of beauty, Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfieffer and Winona Ryder give the best performance of their career; subtle, yet a lot of emotion going on beneath.
I am looking forward to see a DVD edition of this beautiful film; partly because the transfer of the Laser Disc edition that I already own is not that great, and no special features at all. The book "The Age of Innocence, a portrait of the film" that incorporates the screenplay with photos of paintings and pictures that served as research materials has been a big help for deeper understanding of the film.
But for the DVD, Scorsese's and Jay Cooks' commentary is a must. It would be great if some expert scholar of Warton's works would do an additional track as well, pointing out the meanings of the details that modern audience are rather ignorant about.
This film is so rich it would be ideal to have it on DVD because the you can see it over and over again, each time finding new striking details.
Movie Review: Scorcese's Ignored Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually saw this movie when it was released in 1993, and honestly it was pretty dull then. Of course I was 22, and the workings of that late-1800's New York society really didn't make much sense or have much relevance.I think the film may have been ignored at its release because of the slew of other "period pieces" which were so popular (an eventually common) in the late 80's/early 90's... But watching it again 10 years later, this film is anything but common.
The true intensity is Scorcese's detached presentation of a hypocritical & hateful society which holds its members as prisoners.
Not to mention impeccable art direction & beautiful cinematography by the legendary Michael Ballhaus. The film looks as impressionistic as the paintings that line the walls of the characters' homes.
Scorsese is always acute in his casting decisions, and this is one of the films many virtues:
Lewis is perfect as a man who's struggle between his passion & his duty are constantly on the verge of devouring him (yet somehow he thrives on his torture).
Ryder is the seemingly innocent & naive girl who is completely manipulative & cunning underneath her exterior (gee, who would have thought?!) -- notice the arching scene.
In a sense, this was one of Pfeiffer's defining roles. Pfeiffer herself (in a sense) is an "outcast" who has never truly been accepted as a "serious" actress by her peers in the acting community. Watching this film again, it amazes me how this role somehow reflects her personal position in the current social structure of Hollywood, similar to her character existing in 1800's New York society.
Wow...
What an amazing pic. I completely "missed it" the first time around. Great observance of "high society." Many of those codes are strangely applicable today.
Not recommended for those who like fast paced movies, or those who are looking for the "usual Scorcese." I would couple this with "Last Temptation of Christ" as Scorsese's most brave, artistic, demanding & abstract films to date.
Movie Review: answer to lilytse
Summary: 5 Stars
<those who hasn't seen the movie yet should not read this. those who has seen it and has not understood it, maybe this might help>all the answer you're looking for is in the line Newland Archer(Daniel Day-Lewis) says to his son, at the end of the movie-- "tell her i'm old fashioned".
a few hours before, visiting the Louvre museum, Newland says to himself "i am only 57"--i'm still young, i can live however i want. but then, at the Luxembourg park, his son tells him about his mother, therefore Newland's wife May (Winona Ryder) said at her death bed, that she actually knew.
that makes him hesitate a bit; he says he would go up a bit later.
then, when the sunlight reflected on the window of Ellen's apartment strikes Archer's face (and this is a magnificent cinematic touch from the part of Scrosese), the movie smoothly goes inside his own psyche; he sees Ellen at the peer in New Port. if he have had the courrage to go to see her, then their whole life might have changed. but he didn't. at the second stroke of the reflected sunlight, now Newland sees not what he remembers, but what he hoped it happened--and never did; Ellen turns back to him, the probably he would have gone to see her...
Newland realises that he's only an old fashioned person, even though all his life he thought he was a modern, understanding and liberal person. he realises he never proved that to himself by his own action. as a matter of fact he remained alsways conformist to the hypocrisity of the society he has love in, which he actually has felt contempt toward it.
he also, perhaps, suddenly realises that the countess Olenska that he loved was his own projection of what he wanted to be, what he thought he was but never was. in a way, i think you can almost say that he realised his love to Ellen was an illusion.
so yes, he was "old fashioned" and he knows that now. he is now faced to his own limitation, his lack of courrage, and ultimately his unconscious hypocrisy. that's why, i think, he doesn't go up.
it's a very cruel story, and especially a very cruel film...