Description: Highly acclaimed as one of the year's most outstanding movies, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is a provocative tale of passion, temptation, and greed. Helena Bonham Carter (HOWARDS END) delivers a stunning, award-winning performance as Kate, a beautiful young society woman whose desire for a common journalist (Linus Roache) presents her with an impossible decision: leave him, or marry -- and face a life of poverty. Events take an unexpected twist, however, when Kate befriends a lonely young heiress (Alison Elliott) whose own tragic secret offers an irresistible ... but dangerous ... solution. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards(R), this intriguing story of forbidden love is a motion picture event you won't soon forget!
Amazon.com essential video: Queen of the costume drama Helena Bonham Carter finally got a chance to loosen her corset a bit with this exquisitely mounted (Sandy Powell's costumes were nominated for an Academy Award) romantic drama based on Henry James's classic novel. Set in turn-of-the-century London and Venice, Wings of the Dove is a stately departure--more PBS than MTV--for Iain Softley, director of Hackers and the birth-of-the-Beatles biopic Backbeat. But there's enough romantic intrigue to perhaps fuel a week's worth of daytime TV talk shows: My Lover Seduced a Dying Heiress for Her Money.
Bonham Carter, who won several critics association honors for her performance (she was nominated for a Golden Globe and Oscar as well) stars as Kate, who is engaged in a secret affair with Merton (Linus Roache), a journalist whose poor financial standing makes marriage impossible. Kate's manipulative aunt (Charlotte Rampling) threatens to disown her unless she marries the more suitable Lord Mark (Alex Jennings). Opportunity--admittedly sordid--arrives in the form of Millie (Alison Elliott), an American heiress whom Kate befriends. When Kate learns that Millie is dying, she suggests to Merton that he seduce her to make her last days happy, and ensuring that Millie will leave Merton her money when she dies. Merton reluctantly agrees, just as Kate begins to have second thoughts that threaten to sabotage the scheme.
One of the most rapturously reviewed films in recent years, Wings of the Dove is a must-own film for the Merchant-Ivory crowd. But guys: don't dismiss this as a 'chick flick.' Beneath its Masterpiece Theatre exterior beats the wild and untamed heart of Dawson's Creek. --Donald Liebenson
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Rating: - Fantastic movie
Beautifully shot, with gorgeous costumes, this Henry James adaptation is stunning. Forget the beauty of the film for a second; this is a fantastic example of human nature and what we are capable of.
I'm surprised that the book is not more popular given the nuances of the story. There are no straight lines here and the director, along with the characters and actors, give the impression, as they should, that the action is happening on the spot.
If you liked THE GOLDEN BOWL or some of Wharton's adptations, this one will fall into the same category. What is most amazing abou this movie is its subtlty and yet raw portrait of love, meaness, and all that goes along with being human.
Rating: - A DAPPLED KIND OF BEAUTY
Transferring or adapting literature to the screen successfully, is so difficult, producers don't do much of it anymore, except for the BBC folks. But if you're an Henry James reader and admirer, you're probably amazed that this American expatriate writer so eminently unsuitable for contemporary popular entertainment, is sometimes adapted so exceedingly well, that after viewing one is prompted to re-read the original story or novel, and to make a comparison with the film or films. And if they balance, well... It is indeed remarkable.
Helena Bonham-Carter has done so many things so well, fans of hers will be pleased with her take on this nearly tragic character. This is the story of a young woman whose life, half-ruind by her parents misfortunes, is tested by her own youthful passion -- withdrawing from a life of respectable prostitution in the form of a loveless marriage to a rich, dissolute man, ... Read More
Rating: - Good adptation, good acting, good entertainment.
Not exactly an award-winning-production but not commercial garbage either. Superb acting, especially by Bonham-Carter, nearly authentic 1910's atmosphere, good adaptation of a Henry James's novel. Children and teenagers may find it boring but adults certainly won't. 8/10
Rating: - The Law of Unintended Consequences, via Henry James
This exquisite, if not entirely literal, adaptation of Henry James's novel of the same name, examines the relationships among three people, all of whom love each other in one way or another, but whose feelings are rooted in vastly different needs, agendas, and expectations. Through the lens of these relationships, we get a glimpse of the social limitations and values imposed by the class structure of Edwardian-era Britain.
Kate Croy, played by Helena Bonham Carter, in possibly the best performance of her not undistguished career, is the daughter of a woman from a socially prominent family who married a poor man for love - that is to say, married "beneath" her. The marriage was unhappy, and Kate's mother died young, leaving Kate with a social pedigree on one side, but no money - and Kate's social standing, and the mores of the times, make employment impossible. A wealthy marriage is clearly the resolution ... Read More
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- Fantastic movie
- Good adptation, good acting, good entertainment.
