THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
A film review by Job A. Webb
Copyright 1993 Job A. Webb
Daniel Day-Lewis plays the favored son of a prominent New York family, who is engaged to marry the favored daughter of another family, played by Winona Ryder. Michelle Pfeiffer plays the black sheep cousin of Winona, who has disgraced the family by marrying a European cad, then leaving him and returning to New York. Naturally, Day-Lewis's character falls in love with her.
So far, a standard and obvious story. But this all takes place in a very strange time for America. Apparently, at this time in New York, manners were as important as, say, in Japan at the time of Sei-Shonagon. I.e., form was all, a precise set of signs were used to signal any unpleasant statement, and certain things were simply impossible; for example, Pfeiffer's character cannot get divorced.
So you have the passion between Day-Lewis and Pfeiffer, which has to be played out in an extremely careful and mannered way. Even in private, they cannot signal to each other how they really feel, but only give the most obscure signs (except in one or two scenes). This tension is the driving force behind the film; it seems almost as if the film stock would tear itself apart, with the tremendous contradiction between the way the characters feel and the way they act.
I thought the direction of Pfeiffer and Ryder to be, perhaps, a little too subtle. Pfeiffer is filled with this passion, but not allowed to express it; Ryder plays a superficial airhead, who acts completely automatically in the correct mannered way. They are total opposites underneath, but Scorsese forces them to act almost identically, on the surface. But as a result, both seem very remote and it is hard to appreciate the emotions underneath. I think to properly appreciate this, you have to see the movie more than once; it seems worth it.
Day-Lewis does not seem as torn. The movie is told from his point of view, and he seems to be feeling the tensions we would all feel at being trapped in such a society. He protests against it, weakly, but allows things to happen to him, which mostly lead to his benefit, though not of course to the fulfillment of the passion driving the film. I thought Day-Lewis was given his head a little too much in this film; he should have been subjected a little bit to the same tensions driving Ryder and Pfeiffer.
There are some delicious small parts in this film. Miriam Margolyes plays Ryder and Pfeiffer's grandmother, and provides comic relief as well as a sense of stability. Michael Gough is fun as the sort of judge of this society. Richard E. Grant is great as a devious schemer.
The film is strikingly beautiful. Every scene, even the largest, seems to be set up with incredible precision. Certain scenes linger in the mind: the conservatory, the external view of the grandmother's house before New York was New York, the scene where Ryder traps Day-Lewis, with her dress arrayed like a spider's web behind her.
-- J
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