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The Wings of the Dove (1997)

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52 comments in total

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
A period movie with a difference, 7 September 1999
Author: vonnie-2 from Ottawa, Canada

In this most affecting adaptation of Henry James's dense and difficult novel, Ian Softley brings passion back to the oft-derided genre of "period" movie. There are many angles in the story; tales of deception, social hypocrisy, conflict between our hearts' desire and our conscience, of regrets, and some degree, of just deserts. However, in the heart of it lies an unforgettable love triangle, fuelled by the amazing performances of the three leads. Helena Bohnam-Carter, in the pinnacle of her career, embodies the fierce intelligence and ruthless determination of Kate Croy, a woman born in a wrong era, whose effort to hold on to both love and wealth tragically backfires. Linus Roache, playing Kate's secret love, brings tortured Merton Densher (where does James come up with these names?) vividly to life. He has the sort of intense good looks and physical presence required for this role in spades; and his dramatic ability shines though, especially in his last scene with Millie, where he acknowledges his duplicity before the all-accepting love of the dying girl with an incredible raw emotionality. I was most impressed with Allison Elliot's Millie, however. The angelic Millie could have been a big cliché of a character, but in Elliot's skillful hands, Millie takes on the luminance of spirits and love of life that grow even as her physical strength fails. The story and the actors are tremendously aided by gorgeous cinematography (especially the mournful beauty of rain-soaked Venice) , costumes-to-die-for by Sandy Powell (who wore that fabulous red dress to this year's Oscar, accepting the award for "Shakespeare in Love". She should have won it for this film), and beautiful music. A movie to be watched in a dark rainy afternoon, and savored like fine wine.

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
In Love with the Memory, 24 June 2000
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

There are two tests in my mind for a classic film.

First, it must plant some images permanently in your life. Very few films do that. Two films that are cogent to discussing this one are Helena Bonham Carter's Ophelia in Zefferelli's `Hamlet.' She and Glenn Close acted circles around the guys -- her expression in the midst of the play within the play is lasting over years in my memory. The whole film revolves around that moment.

Also lasting are several images from the ostensibly unambitious `Oscar and Lucinda.' But I also carry many lasting film images that are junk, courtesy of Lucas and Spielberg. That brings us to the second condition: for a film to be classic, evocation of the images, the remembrance, needs to be multidimensional, to elevate rather than dumb down.

Measured by those rules, this film is remarkable. For a few years, I have carried the image of the next to last scene where Carter makes love and in the act discovers the truth about her love. This is so wonderful, so tragic, so true that it has stuck with me, together with the secondary images, the memories of Venice and Millie that Merton is in love with. I hope to follow this woman's career for decades. I wonder where it will go?

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Rent it, 25 November 1998
Author: iago-6 (scott@cinemademerde.com) from NYC

I can't believe there are only two comments for this film. It's a subtle film and a rare one in which your feelings for the characters change. I have read the book, and seen all the other films made of Henry James novels, and this one is by far the best at translating at least some of the moral ambiguity at the heart of most James novels.

Helena plays a woman forced to give up her boyfriend Merton because he has no money. She meets and befriends a wealthy, but terminally ill American, Milly. She decides that Merton will court Milly, inherit all of Milly's money when she dies, and have the funds to marry Helena. The film is about Merton's moral awakening as he realizes how horrible what he's doing is, and WHO Helena's character really is.

You would have to read the novel to understand how difficult it is to adapt this material, and what a great job they really have done. Bring your hankies for the scene near the end (not in the novel, actually) in which Merton apologizes to Milly. This invented scene crystallizes all of the emotion and makes the movie fulfilling in a way a straight working of the novel could not have been.

Helena is good, but her character is simplified somewhat from the book. I think this should have at least been up for Best Picture. See it.

--- Check out website devoted to bad and cheesy movies: www.cinemademerde.com

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Carter showcase of very good movie, 2 March 1999

Author: Sean Gallagher (naes@cgocable.net) from Oakville, Ont. Canada

This was not one of my favorite novels when I read it (for James, I prefer THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY), but this is a very good film. Director Iain Softley and writer Hossein Amini made the smart decision to move this up in time to the 1910's, which enables them to get to the passions more than James does here. Softley also makes this darker than most literary adaptations, in look and in tone, without suffocating it, and he avoids making this a film about production design rather than about a story. He does labor a bit in trying for tragedy, but that's only a quibble.

Alison Elliot, a good actress (I liked her in THE UNDERNEATH and the otherwise flawed THE SPITFIRE GRILL), takes awhile to warm up as Millie, because she seems a little too modern, but she avoids easy sentiment as the dying heiress. Linus Roache, who I thought was a little awkward in PRIEST, here avoids the trap of being the third wheel, making us understand what both Millie and Kate see in Merton. But the real triumph here is Helena Bonham Carter, who gave the best performance of the year. One character says of Kate, "There's something going on behind those beautiful lashes," and that can usually be said of the characters Carter plays, but sometimes she's overly detached. Here, she's completely engaged, and she pulls off the difficult trick of never losing our sympathies even when her character does something despicable. And where James sort of made Kate just manipulative, Carter makes her human and longing.

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12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Incredible., 19 December 2001

Author: C. A. Thompson-Briggs (goldengategatsby@aol.com) from San Francisco, CA

The Wings of the Dove is an incredible film.

Helena Bonham Carter performs her role with nuances of visage and body, and in particular eyebrow, which capture the essence of Kate's manipulation and longing. Everyone performs well.

The cinematography is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen on film--it ranks near Vertigo as one of a few films which breach entertainment and are masterpieces of art. The Venetian and Edwardian locales never cease to fascinate and titilate the viewer. The final sequence represents graphically the vacuity which has enveloped Kate and her love with haunting realism.

Do not watch the film to be "entertained"--it depresses with little reserve and wrenches the heart. Let the music, camera, and Bonham Carter sweep you into the magic of this cinematic masterpiece.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Subtlety is not dead, 31 October 1998

Author: wcb from Redmond, WA

It's nice to see that some directors still believe that a great movie is subtle. No need to hit audiences over the head to get the point across. Think 'Howard's End.' Think 'Remains of the Day.' Think 'A Passage to India.' Wings of the Dove is in the same league. Helena Bonham-Carter is magnificent as she takes us from thinking of her in sympathetic terms, to beginning to have second thoughts about her character, to becoming aghast at the cold calculation of her plot. No one is good or evil here, merely human and full of beauty, pain, and unworthiness. I loved it. And most of all, it's a moving PICTURE. The night scenes in the gondola are some of the greatest cinematography ever. 'Titanic' didn't come close.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Poetic, subtle, and beautiful, 14 June 2000

Author: Morganna (silkrabbit@post.com) from United States

"The Wings of the Dove" poetically unveils itself with beautiful visuals and explorations in to the complexities of desire. A tragic irony, with an excellent finale. This movie also contains the most painfully emotive sex scene that I have ever seen; as it is honest and detailed with emotions that so rarely are captured this brilliantly in 'art'. This movie is intimate.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Great film!, 15 August 2006

Author: jnunes-1 from Oakland,CA

This is one of my favorite films of the 90's. Great cast, fantastic screenplay, simply an incredible telling of a compelling story. The movie moves along in organic fashion, never feeling contrived or manipulative (probably because the story comes from a good novelist). The characters are well developed and make the choices you believe these characters would make. Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roach and Allison Elliot are all excellent, and Charlotte Rampling is always good. I also like the contrast set up with the dreary English settings vs. the romantic and elegant Venetion scenes. I think this movie is vastly underrated and should be seen by any serious film fan.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Much Better than I Expected!, 23 February 2007

Author: buzzedman_ie from United States

I only watched this movie because I was bored one afternoon, and it had a relatively high rating. I was expecting something along the lines of a very slow moving Merchant-Ivory period drama. The storyline was much more compelling than that. Through much of the film, I was thinking that I've seen similar stories on soap operas, and I knew how this was going to end. However, midway through the film, the story line ended up taking very interesting twists and turns. By the end of the film, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen. The film was lushly photographed, well paced, and suspenseful. It made me want to read the original source material.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A Good Film, 18 September 2005

Author: cspaced1

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A film of the novel by the American writer Henry James.

When Kate (Helena Bonham - Carter)falls in love with a penniless journalist named Merton (Linus Roache), she faces an impossible choice; marry him and live in poverty or give him up to receive her inheritance.

Of course, there is one unthinkable option.

Kate could have Merton seduce the beautiful American heiress Millie Theale (Alison Elliott), who's dying and has no one to leave her fortune to.

But in doing so, Kate risks losing what she values most, Mertons own Heart.

See for yourself how far these lovers will go to have it all - money, love and passion, and the ultimate price they must pay, in the film that has everyone talking.

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