Wings of the Dove, The (1997)
Seen on 22 November 1997 with Laura for $8.50 at the Angelika.
This is the latest entry in screen adaptations of Henry James novels (quickly following the latest version of *Washington Square*), and it's a very good one. Henry James' characters are complex--no cookie cutters here. What could have been a soap opera--poor man is urged by girlfriend to seduce her dying friend--is in fact a sophisticated emotional drama.
Set in London in 1910, Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter) is a poor relation who winds up living under the auspices of her coercive Aunt Maude (Charlotte Ramplng), who controls not only Kate's finances but those of her opium-addicted father (Michael Gambon). She forbids Kate to be involved with poor journalist Merton Densher (Linus Roache). Since her choice involves two fates, she tried to relegate Merton to her past. Resentfully settling into her new glamorous life, she meets Millie Theale (Alison Elliott), the "richest orphan in America," who is visiting from New York.
The two women become close friends and in due time, they start running into Merton all over town; Millie fancies him. When Kate finds out that Millie has a terminal illness, she starts to think...
Millie and Kate go on a trip to Venice, and they both invite Merton to join them. They both love him, but Kate urges him to cozy up to the heiress with an illness, thinking it will solve all their problems, and free them financially so they can--eventually--be together.
Luckily, this is not *Days of Our Lives*. The characters are richly drawn and the actors all do a wonderful job. Their faces reflect their changing emotional tides. It's a joy to watch talent in action. You really feel the emotional consequences to their actions. Linus Roach, who I last saw in *Priest*, is both attractive and talented, but not in the usual Hollywood sort of way. It's nice to see someone who is both offbeat *and* appealing.
Venice is the fourth star of the movie. It is one of the only cities in the world that is guaranteed never to change; a city without auto traffic built in a lagoon on stilts is not going to sprout character-altering skyscrapers. Whether it's *Summertime* or *Comfort of Strangers*, putting a film in Venice changes it completely. It's hard to imagine this story taking place entirely in London.
Director Iain Softley deserves special mention. It takes something special to make a park bench look like an island of loneliness or a rowboat for the lovelorn. He really knows when to, and not to, use a close-up. For example, when Helena Bonham-Carter's full moon of a face fills the screen, there's a good reason for it, and it shows.
Kudos also to Sandy Powell (II) for costume design. The flamboyant fashions of the 1910s are captured perfectly. The whole production looks like Merchant Ivory, even though it's not.
MPAA reasons: Rated R for sexuality. That would be *hetero*sexuality in this case.
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
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