The Wings of the Dove (Softley, 1997): Stratford Picturehouse, 4pm
This film is also screening at this cinema on Sunday May 27 at 4pm. Details here.
The movie is the subject of an excellent BFI Modern Classics monograph by Robin Wood. More here.
Time Out review:
'Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter) loves Merton
(Linus Roache), a comparatively impoverished, 'progressive' journalist, but
the aunt on whom she depends (Charlotte Rampling) prefers a wealthier suitor and
forbids them to meet. Reluctant to lose either her lover or her
allowance, Kate takes advantage of her blossoming friendship with
visiting American heiress Milly (Elliott), travelling with her to Venice
and, unknown to her aunt, inviting her 'friend' Merton to join them.
But things get still more complicated when it looks like Milly is
starting to fall for Merton herself. For the early London scenes, Hossein Amini's
adaptation of Henry James' novel (updated to 1910) seems merely an
imaginatively designed Edwardian costumer about frustrated love. In
Venice, however, it soon becomes noticeably more interesting, with
Kate's motives and methods turning increasingly murky as she appears to
drive Merton into Milly's arms. The familiar Jamesian conflict of
American innocence and Old World intrigue emerges, darker and crueller
than a conventional romantic triangle, and a palpable sense of anguish,
guilt and confusion takes hold. The performances are sensitive and
sturdy, most impressively so in a beautifully judged sex scene (between
Merton and Kate) that is authentically despairing.' Geoff Andrew
Here is the trailer.
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