Excellent, a Must See

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The eighties and nineties seemed to be the heyday of British heritage cinema, particularly of films set in the Victorian or Edwardian era. A number of actors seemed to specialise in films of this type, but the ruling Queen of Period Drama was undoubtedly Helena Bonham Carter. (James Wilby was probably the King). "The Wings of the Dove" was Helena's fourth film of this nature, following "A Room with a View", "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and "Howard's End".Henry James's original novel dates from 1902, but the film is for some reason set in 1910. Bonham Carter's character, Kate Croy, is a young woman in a difficult position. She is, on her mother's side, from a wealthy family, but inherited little money when her mother died two years earlier because her father had squandered his wife's fortune to feed his opium habit. This has put Kate at the mercy of her mother's still wealthy sister, Aunt Maude, who is determined that Kate should marry a husband from a "good" family. Kate is in love with a journalist named Merton Densher, but dare not marry him for fear of incurring Maude's displeasure. Maude would much prefer Kate to marry Lord Mark, a member of an old-established aristocratic family. The plot takes a new turn when Kate is introduced by Mark to Milly Theale, a wealthy American heiress who is on a tour of Europe. It turns out that Milly is in fact seriously ill and does not have long to live. It also turns out that, although Mark's family appear rich to outsiders, he (possibly unknown to Maude) is in financial difficulties of his own. He proposes a cynical scheme to Kate; he will marry Milly for her fortune, which will save his financial position, and then after her death marry Kate. Kate indignantly rejects this idea, but she is motivated by distaste for Mark himself, not for his scheme. She comes up with her own variation on Mark's idea and persuades Merton to pay court to Milly, hoping that Maude will no longer object to him as a husband once her is an independently wealthy widower. The film then explores what happens when Kate and Merton try to put their scheme into action. Stephen Holden, the film reviewer of the New York Times, said that the film "succeeds where virtually every other film translation of a James novel has stumbled". I am not sure that I would go as far as that; there have been some very fine James adaptations in the past, such as "The Heiress" (based on "Washington Square") or "The Lost Moment" (based on "The Aspern Papers"), both from the late forties, or "The Innocents" (based upon "The Turn of the Screw") from 1961, or that fine Merchant-Ivory version of "The Europeans" from 1979; any of these could probably bear comparison with Some more recent versions of James novels, however, such as "The Golden Bowl" and "The Portrait of a Lady", have seemed to stumble, partially because they caught that occasional occupational disease of "heritage cinema", that of being visually attractive but inert and slow-moving. (This particular illness is not confined to James adaptations; "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and the more recent "Bel-Ami" suffered from it in an even more serious form). "The Wings of the Dove" is certainly visually attractive in its recreation of the London and Venice of the early twentieth century and of the fashions and interiors of the period. Director Iain Softley makes subtle use of colour; the prominent tones are various shades of blue and green; especially in the women's clothes; red and yellow are much more sparingly used. It is, however, more than just a pretty face. It was nominated for four Academy Awards- "Best Actress" for Bonham Carter, "Best Adapted Screenplay", "Best Cinematography" and "Best Costume Design". All four nominations were well deserved, although it was defeated in all four categories. (1997 was the year when the Oscars were dominated by "Titanic").Of the four main characters, Mark is admittedly pretty repulsive, but Kate and Merton, although flawed, are nevertheless to some extent sympathetic. Bonham Carter succeeds in the difficult task in showing us these two facets of Kate's nature, her flaws and her more sympathetic side. On the one hand, her scheme for her lover to marry the dying Milly strikes us as horribly mercenary. On the other, we also realise that Kate has been forced into a difficult position by her debauched, dissolute old father and her snobbish control-freak of an aunt, both well played by Michael Gambon and Charlotte Rampling. Alison Elliott, an actress I had not seen much of before, has an equally difficult task, that of making her character virtuous without making her insipid. "The Wings of the Dove" is an intelligent film which presents us with some fine acting, a penetrating but humane analysis of human motivations and a deeply moving story. It should be required viewing for all those armchair critics (and there are still a few of them about) who believe that the heritage cinema movement is about no more than nostalgia and snobbery. 8/10

Not all of Henry James' work has adapted well to screen, but there are three film adaptations especially that were adapted beautifully and are brilliant films in their own right. They are 1949's The Heiress (my personal favourite), 1961's The Innocents and this.It is hard to decide where to begin praising The Wings of the Dove, but a definite starting point would be the production values. Simply put, The Wings of the Dove is not only one of the most visually stunning films personally seen in recent memory but also one of the most beautiful ever, strongly reminiscent of a Merchant-Ivory film. It's exquisitely shot, especially in the Venetian scenes and the final scene between Millie and Merton, the settings and period detail are so colourful and evocative and The Wings of the Dove has to contain some of the best and jaw-droppingly amazing costume design in all of film. The sensitive and beautifully elegant music score and rightly restrained direction also add a great deal.Hossein Amini received an Oscar nomination for the film's script, and it is not hard to see why. It is a literate, deliciously dark and beautifully nuanced script that is never devoid of emotion, and adapts very difficult source material remarkably cleverly and with utmost coherence. The story is deliberate in pace, but dark and poignant- the latter scenes being incredibly powerful emotionally- and it is throughout told with complete control and respect for James' work. It also succeeds brilliantly as a mood piece, the darkness, poignancy and lyricism very well brought out. The characters also fascinate, compellingly real and human rather than labelled just good and bad.The Wings of the Dove contains fine performances, with that of Helena Bonham Carter ranking among the year's and her best, her character makes some questionable decisions to put it lightly but the many nuances Bonham Carter brings to the role allows one to really sympathise with her and understand why she makes them. Allison Elliot was also charming and heart-breaking in a role that easily could have been played annoyingly or blandly in lesser hands, and Linus Roache handles the hardest role of the whole film and story very, very well. Charlotte Rampling, Michael Gambon, Elizabeth McGovern and Alex Jennings are all talented actors too and give excellent support.All in all, wonderful film and one of the best Henry James film adaptations ever made. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Period pieces of this sort, well, just not my type of films. I do love Atonement though, although that really proves to be the exception. But this one wasn't the usual stuffy period melodrama, the writing and direction prove o be really restrained and elegant while still being sensitive and graceful. The performances are also fantastic. Bonham Carter really should do more grounded roles like this, she's amazing here, showing how subtle she can be when the part calls for it. Alison Elliot is also magnificent, even threatening to steal the whole film. This actress deserves to be so much bigger, if her talent here is any indication.

I'll confess that this is not entirely my favorite genre. I like some British costume drama's, as long as they have some quirkiness added to it, such as for instance is the case in such movies as "Barry Lyndon", "The Draughtsman's Contract" and "Dangerous Liaisons". This movie is more in the style and mind of a Jane Austen novel, which is just not the type of movie for which I sit down and enjoy watching.But nevertheless that doesn't mean I'm totally blind for the quality this movie got made in. Its Oscar nominations; Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, are all certainly ones I can agree with. Add to that the costume design and you have the 5 elements that make this a good and certainly perfectly watchable movie.What I like about the story is that it features an original love-triangle. It's not the type of love-triangle you would just expect and it also makes the movie as a whole original not entirely predictable to watch. It's well layered and executed in the movie. It however perhaps too long for the movie to take shape. Basically the first halve of the movie totally couldn't interest me and it was standard, slow and just not that interesting. However the second halve, from the moment on the movie gets set in Venice, really made up a lot for me.The movie is set at the early 20th century, which is not the most usual time period for this type of movie. However, if you would had told me the movie was set in the late 19th century I would had also believed it. Basically it are only the cars and phones that give away that this movie is set in the 20th century. The rest of the movie just feels and looks the same as any other costume drama set during a more common earlier time period. The sets and costumes for this time period are just fantastic. Not just for the Venice sequences but also really for the sequences set in London.The movie is also not as heavy handed as it might sound and as you perhaps would expect. The movie mostly remains on the shallow safe side, until heads toward its very ending. It often makes this a bland and rather formulaic movie to watch, despite its hospitality. I think you can blame director Iain Softley, who directed his movie rather static and standard. Or perhaps blame the '90's, which just wasn't the most style-full period for movie making.A good and certainly watchable movie, that perhaps should had been a bit more bold and edgier in its execution.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/