The Wings of the Dove
A Film Review by Ivana Redwine Copyright 1997 Ivana Redwine
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Alison Elliott, Elizabeth McGovern, Charlotte Rampling. Directed by Iain Softley. Written by Henry James (novel), Hossein Amini (screenplay). Cinematography by Eduardo Serra (II). Music by Ed Shearmur. Production Design by John Beard. Costume Design by Sandy Powell (II). Film Editing by Tariq Anwar. MPAA Rating R. Running Time 101 Minutes.
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is a tragic romance and a powerful film about the painful personal prices that are sometimes paid for passion. I highly recommend this movie as one of the most entertaining and emotionally satisfying films of the year. A lavish costume drama with exquisite production values, this moving story of friendship, love, and betrayal is set in the early 20th century in the glamorous and cinematically lush world of London drawing rooms and Venetian palazzos. The story centers around a complex young woman named Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter) and her doomed love for Merton Densher (Linus Roache). The acting in the film is superb in general, and in particular, Bonham Carter's performance is extraordinary and seems likely to win her an Oscar nomination.
The film is loosely based on Henry James' novel, but admirers of that great writer should be warned that the sensibilities of the movie are not entirely faithful to those of the book--for example, the film shows that Kate and Densher have a steamy extramarital sexual relationship. And in many other ways the characters in the movie seem strikingly modern compared with those in the novel. Such liberties are partially justified by setting the film around 1910, which is about ten years later than the time frame of the book. Also, the film adaptation streamlines James' story to fit the confines of the leaner form of the screenplay, making the movie less cerebral and complex than the novel, while shifting the story's focus to its emotional aspects. But the screen adaptation succeeds brilliantly in finding those elements of the book that translate well to the visually aggressive and emotionally immediate medium of film. The result is a compelling and accessible movie that is not just for Henry James fans or for the costume drama crowd--it's a movie for anyone who enjoys getting caught up in the sweep of a passionate drama.
Bonham Carter imbues the story's main character Kate Croy with a spectrum of emotions that makes her almost impossible to completely figure out. At times Kate is almost as coolly cynical and selfishly scheming as a film-noir heroine. But although Kate makes cynical decisions, it is not clear whether she is a selfish monster or a victim who has been corrupted by the cynicism of the society that surrounds her. She is a character who at first inspires sympathy which later becomes mixed with disdain. I think this adds resonance to her character, and as is often the case with fictional characters who have substantial psychological depth, much of the fascination lies in the fact that she is neither completely bad nor completely good.
When the story opens, Kate's mother has died recently and her opium-addicted father is living in poverty. Kate has been taken in by her wealthy socialite aunt who is intent on matching her with a suitable husband of appropriate wealth and social standing. The aunt forbids Kate to see her father, fearing his negative influence on her will hurt her chances for a good marriage. To complicate matters further, Kate is passionately in love with Merton Densher, a young journalist who can barely support himself. Kate's aunt also forbids her to see Densher, forcing her to meet him secretly in such unlikely places as an elevator in the London Underground. Kate is in the nearly impossible situation of being torn between her love for Densher and her fear of being cut off financially by her aunt. To make matters worse, her father is also being supported by her aunt in return for his staying away from Kate. Thus, it is more than destitution that Kate fears--she is afraid her aunt's wrath will hurt her father.
Kate's dream of being able to openly be with the man she loves seems all but impossible. But things change when Millie Theale (Alison Elliott), a wealthy American heiress, enters the glittering social scene. Kate soon learns that Millie harbors a tragic secret: The heiress suffers from a fatal disease and is not expected to live much longer. Based on this information, Kate devises a desperate scheme that she hopes will allow her to end her financial dependence on her aunt and marry Densher. Since I don't want to spoil the story for those not familiar with it, I'll say no more about how all this plays out, but I will say that things come out quite a bit differently from what I think most people will expect.
In my opinion, Bonham Carter's performance steals the show, but there are also other strong performances. As Kate's aunt, Charlotte Rampling has just the right touch of icily patrician villainy. Linus Roache takes on a difficult role with Merton Densher--he plays a man weak enough to be putty in the hands of a manipulative woman, yet he manages to project enough masculine appeal to make it credible that women like Kate and Millie would be in love with him. And although Alison Elliot does not have the kind of patrician looks that would make her perfect for the part of Millie Theale, she brings to the role the kind of luminosity and innocence that makes her portrayal come to life.
The gorgeous cinematography--which includes stunning location shooting in Venice, Italy--heightens the film's impact while adding additional layers of subtle meaning. I interpreted the seductive appeal of the visual opulence of some of the imagery as a metaphor paralleling the hedonistic influences that helped to shape the actions of Kate, Densher, and Millie. I thought that the cinematography's lushness was the perfect way to illustrate luxury's sensual lure. Especially effective was the scene in which Millie and Kate walk through an exhibition hall where the works of the Viennese artist Gustav Klimt are being exhibited. Klimt's paintings brilliantly foreshadow the sensual richness and passionate sexuality of much of what is about to unfold in the film. I was also particularly impressed by the lyrical, innovative, and silkily smooth visual transitions between the scenes; they reminded me of the facile, poetic complexity of Henry James' prose style.
One thing the film did that struck me as incredibly powerful was to show just how much Kate has to lose by contrasting the world of wealth and privilege with the world that she is likely to descend to if she does not obey her aunt's wishes. In one stunning scene, Kate sneaks out to slip her father an expensive piece of jewelry her aunt had presented her as a gift. Kate gives the necklace to a woman standing at the door of an opium den that her father patronizes. The camera then provides a glimpse of the den's dark and ominous interior, which is tinged with a nightmare's horror. Much later, near the end of the film, comes another powerful scene, similar in its feeling of heartbreak, when Kate makes love with Densher in his small, stark London apartment. The treatment of this scene is anything but romantic; it is a scene of desperation and tragedy. Both Bonham Carter and Roache are unforgettable here as two people whose love for each other has been poisoned by what they have done and the kind of people they have become.
The psychological and intellectual depth of Henry James' stories have proven irresistible to filmmakers during the past couple of years, and THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is the third recent major movie to have been adapted from the great writer's novels, the other two being THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY and WASHINGTON SQUARE. While all three are films of high quality, it seems probable that general contemporary audiences will like THE WINGS OF THE DOVE better than the other two, although some Henry James devotees will never be able to get past the fact that great liberties were taken in adapting this classic work to the screen.
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