The Age of Innocence (1993)

I found this at my public library on DVD. Day-Lewis is now in his 60s and it has been hinted that he may not make any more movies. So I looked this one up for a feel for his skills 20+ years ago.It is set in the 1870s New York, it has a feel to it much like "The Great Gatsby". It moves deliberately and the focus is more on the characters than the action.Daniel Day-Lewis is attorney Newland Archer, a rather calm and proper person. His young love was Michelle Pfeiffer as Ellen Olenska but they went their separate ways, she married someone else, he remained single.As the story picks up he decides to marry Winona Ryder as May Welland, the cousin of Ellen. This keeps Ellen in the story also and Newland finds that she will be divorcing. This creates conflict in his mind. Should he stay faithful to the woman he married or should he pursue the woman of his dreams?Well made drama and Day-Lewis is of course in top form.

I keep seeing this movie described as "exquisite" and some claiming that if you don't embrace this you obviously can't appreciate the finer things in life. Um, no.This movie is ponderous when it should be piquant and simply too long as though the screenwriters couldn't bear to trim ANY of Wharton's narrative-- the would-be lovers simply meet and part too many times. Luscious to look at? Yes, but to the point that all the trimmings start to really get in the way. Perhaps we are meant to see all the frills and fine food as the things that obscure the real world, but the camera loves them too much. Are we meant to feel as trapped by this movie as the characters in it are trapped by convention? I saw this on DVD, I could get up and walk around as needed-- I can't imagine what it would have been like to be stuck in a seat in a cinema waiting for the lights to go back up.I can watch and enjoy "My Dinner With Andre" with the best of them, but I cannot recommend this movie to anyone save a historian of Victorian decor.

The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to this novel. This film is magnificently brought to the screen giving it full color and a great cast. Granted, the Author is long gone, and the prize was long ago, but the script adaptation is solid giving life to America prior to 1920. Filming for this was done in Philadelphia, Pa, Troy, NY, the Bronx, and Paris, France among other locations. The locations are all treated well. Daniel Day-Lewis heads a major cast and has the dilemma of Michelle Pfeiffer versus Winona Ryder who in real life is 13 years her junior. In all these period costumes, they both look magnificent. The period of refinement and elegance fits all of them well.This is a drama and as such could tend to bore many viewers, but those who appreciate drama and acting will enjoy this one. Geraldine Chaplin is particularly effective in this movie too. It is mostly the story of Newland Archer becoming engaged and married to a beautiful young woman while falling in love with a Countess who has recently been widowed but will not allow herself to consummate a love she has for him too. The ending of this is very symbolic of the whole story of the real love that is but yet never realized. It is one of quiet rejection.

The film is incredibly loyal to the book which does not happen too often. After reading the book I was astonished how accurately the story was portrayed. There is a great amount of dialogue which resembles the novel word by word and it is done for the most important parts.The cast is perfect; the leading actresses are just how they are described in the novel and how I imagined them to be. There is a great deal of feeling and subjectivity portrayed by the actors and the characters they play convey so much emotion. Truly touching.There film uses a lot of colour, sometimes in a brave way which is unusual for a 1993 production. Straight away you can see how much passion and effort was put into the making of the movie with the long shots, choreography and complex scenes.Made me cry, just like the book!