The Wings of the Dove (Iain Softley, UK 1997, 102 min.)
Tickets available soon.
An impoverished woman who has been forced to choose between a privileged life with her wealthy aunt and her journalist lover, befriends an American heiress. When she discovers the heiress is attracted to her own lover and is dying, she sees a chance to have both the privileged life she cannot give up and the lover she cannot live without. Based on a novel by Henry James and starring Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Alison Elliott, Charlotte Rampling and Elizabeth McGovern, the film's dazzling, Oscar-nominated cinematography evokes the breathtaking paintings of James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, John Everett Millais and Ettore Tito.
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Reviews
“A luscious, surprisingly complex adaptation of the Henry James novel.
--Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
“Flat-out terrific… As thrilling as any movie this year.”
--Renée Downing, Arizona Daily Star
“A magnificent and spellbinding film. Helena Bonham Carter gives the performance of her career.”
--Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“A brilliant movie. Instead of being subjected to the confining elegance of, say, a Merchant-Ivory flick, the audience is seduced by lush, sometimes downright decadent, imagery… It's exquisite – and very adult – entertainment.”
--Carol Buckland, CNN
“The film [has] the vibrancy and urgency of a thriller, yet still seems faithful to the unique spirit of James… Director Iain Softley brings the last Edwardian world to life with an effortless verisimilitude and the grandeur of a major Hollywood historical epic. His love scenes are voluptuous, erotic, genuinely romantic.”
--William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“The actors – Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache and Alison Elliott – and director [Iain] Softley do brilliantly and succinctly in images what James did slowly and discursively in dense prose. They convey the mixture of yearning, obsession, hypocrisy, manipulation, ambition, greed, betrayal and passion exuded by James’ upper crust characters at a turning point in the first decade of the 20th century.”
--Joan Bunke, Des Moines Register
“If you’re thinking you’ve seen this all before – repressed Brits in tangled romances played out in Italy, a la Enchanted April or Room with a View – think again … and buy a ticket.
--Bob Fischbach, Omaha World-Harald
Rated R for sexuality.
Trailer
