The Age of Innocence Directed by Martin Scorsese Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Geraldine Chaplin USA, 1993 Rated PG (sensuality)
The Age of Innocence is a romantic Taxi Driver. Martin Scorsese, the master of the furious film, still maintains the fury that lived in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and Mean Streets. The Age of Innocence is about the anger at society that those that do not wish to conform feel. It is about passion- for life, love, and passion itself. Set in New York in the late 1800s, it is based on Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic. The film is one of supreme visual elegance and deep, intense inner-emotion, one of mores and crookedness and repression.
Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is the equivalent of Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle character. He has no anger at the social rules of this era, he doesn't quite notice or acknowledge their narrowness at the beginning of the film. He is engaged to be married to a sweet, young girl named May Welland (Winona Ryder): the two are from major, prominent New York families; their being betrothed has very little to do with love, but has everything to do with class and tradition. Newland is content to lead a little, frigid life with May because he has been taught to feel this way. People in this twisted world never get married for affection- that simply isn't the way they think or maneuver.
When Newland meets Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), May's cousin who has just come from her ruined marriage in Europe, he immediately knows this is what he has secretly aspired for all his life. Ellen is not a very "moral" person by social standards. She married outside the New York rules, to a foreigner, and she has the audacity to return to America with the news of divorce. Ellen is a fiery, radiant symbol of Newland's desires, which he has just begun to fully realize. Yes, he has affection for the petite socialite May Welland, though it is on the mild side. But he yearns for passion, and that is against every one of the unspoken commandments of this New York circle. He decides to aid Ellen in her divorce issues; he is a well-to-do lawyer who can give insight into the matter.
Meanwhile, gossip is floating about the many banquets and parties being held in New York. Newland finds all this gossip irritating; it is so uninformed, so silly and infantile, so undignified in a society that demands "dignity". He occasionally argues with the men and women who condemn Ellen for her pursuit of her marriage's end and her getting married in the first place. Newland inserts a comment here and there; none are especially radical, but we know he is bottling up his annoyance at these social gatherings held to bash Ellen Olenska- the very annoyance that Taxi Driver's protagonist rid himself of through violence. Newland is kind to Ellen and visits her often. He makes plans to have his wedding hurried, at an earlier date, a plan meant to suffocate his passionate thoughts for the Countess.
There are parts of the film that are crafted just like a play. When Newland asks May for an earlier wedding, she comes up, out of the blue, with an accusation. She wonders if his demands for an earlier wedding date have been spawned from the love of another. She rambles for a while on the situation, and then, the scene fades out her talking and focuses on Newland and the changes in his facial expressions. Elmer Bernstein's amazing score raps itself around his emotions and carries them to us. May's words fade back in as Newland catches himself daydreaming about Ellen Olenska, and brings himself back to reality. He attacks May's accusation, saying he has never loved anyone else but her. "Oh Newland, you really do love me, I'm so happy!" May responds.
Ellen finally realizes Newland's lust for her. He doesn't seem, at first, to be coveting her so much as coveting her aura, her danger. There is a violent hunger in him, but unlike what the Travis Bickle character did with his hunger, Newland does not fully carry his desires through. There is angst in him, as there was in Travis, but it is shown only in complete secrecy. Ellen, we learn, has come to share Newland's feelings of love and passion and their love scenes are some of the most sensual I have ever seen. The two are fully clothed, but even the simple touching of hands (which are usually gloved) is stirring, more so than most gratuitous nudity in films. It is almost like Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift's love for each other in A Place in the Sun- both have a strong desire to be with each other but there is a river between them, a river between classes. Archer and Olenska must cross a river of unfeeling mores, one both are reluctant to cross.
But, eventually, there comes a time when Newland cannot continue to have Ellen as his mistress. He is married to May, who realizes the growing distance between them, and the maze and game of secrecy Newland and Ellen are playing is becoming too tangled. May is pregnant and Ellen's husband continues to call for her from Europe. As much as they want each other, neither is extremely willing to further disrupt New York society's social balance (or imbalance.) This is the struggle that is the core of the film.
There is another scene that uses the play-like qualities effectively. Newland and Ellen meet at the same opera they met for the first time at. This opera is the same one people go to every year, one followed by the same party, one that holds memories. At the conclusion of an act, the noise of the opera house is quieted, and all is dark except for Newland and Ellen. Scorsese uses this technique to focus on their conversation. It's really rather interesting, even if it isn't entirely original.
The Age of Innocence is a film of great visual beauty. Dante Ferretti, the great production designer, creates a world so different from ours- the world of Merchant-Ivory films, New York in the 19th century. Every set is lovingly made and perfection to the very last detail. Gabriella Pescucci's Academy Award-winning costumes have yet to be matched by a period piece (Elizabeth is a good contender for surpassing Pescucci's costumes' elegance, though.) They, like Ferretti's sets, are extremely detailed. Michael Ballhaus's photography is simply gorgeous. The man doesn't make a wrong turn or lighting decision, as far as I can see. Thelma Schoonmaker, who has edited Scorsese pictures since the early years of his career, is a miraculous editor, and her work with The Age of Innocence can be compared to her work in Raging Bull. Also notable is the title sequence, one fashioned by the great Saul Bass. It is the first great title sequence I have seen this decade, a visit to the long, interesting title sequences of the 50s.
The Age of Innocence is a film of extreme pathos and the evils of society conformity, themes that have been touched on in hundreds of movies, but have rarely been crafted so eloquently. Some people may be put off by its complicated narration (by Joanne Woodward) which discusses almost everything and the goings-on of the characters and the society. I urge all to see it, however. Its complexity may be a bit too much for some to decipher, but the basic emotions of the principle characters are not In the end, the film leads to Newland's remembrance, that is filled with a silent sadness. He prays for the knowledge of a coming era, hopefully one that leaves behind the unwritten social rules that held him back from being with the woman he truly loved.
By Andrew Chan
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