Dec. 30, 2002 - 5:15 pm
and this film begins the week of Daniel Day-Lewis movies. this is another recommendation from the new submission form...many thanks. i thought that i had seen most of this a few years ago, but i believe that i was mistaken, as everything in the film seemed completely new to me. i think i might've been thinking of The Wings of the Dove (1997) now looking back on it. or maybe i haven't really seen that either. i'm just not sure anymore.
this is a new edition of Edith Wharton's famous novel, redone by Martin Scorsese with an awesome cast. since my university film mentor, Dr. Larsen, was a huge fan of both Scorsese and Wharton, I am forced to assume that he loves this film...which rather baffles me because it seems nothing like the persona that he exudes. anyway...on to the film.
it takes place in the 1870s in New York primarily. (of course Scorsese always did love NYC.) and tells in a roundabout way of the hypocrisy of the society that existed then, especially in regard to love, sex, and marriage. an interesting fact is that sex is never directly discussed or shown onscreen, it doesn't even seem to be a part of the most intense romance of this film. hard to believe that could be accomplished so well, but it does work. but the story centers around Newland Archer, Daniel Day-Lewis' character and his romance with Winona Ryder's character in the high society of New York. and then how one day his life becomes nothing but longing for something that he can never have, in another more intense romance with a married woman. i would have preferred someone else to Michelle Pfeiffer, but she still does a decent job.
wonderful editing and cinematography on this film, and it's much more creative than what you might expect to see in a period film like this. for instance, we see a key that has been returned to Archer which is resting in his breast pocket. first, a slow zoom in to his chest, then a crossfade to where we can see an envelope with his address on it, then another middle envelope with a second address, then a third envelope with the address he originally sent it to, then the key itself. this was overlaid with the narrator's voice, to explain why we're seeing the key and exactly what it means.
i think the narrative element also added a lot to this film. that doesn't appear widely enough in movies today. plus the movie features a lot of wonderful music, including my favorite Enya song of all time, "Marble Halls."
and if you're like me, you're probably wondering why Daniel has a hypenated last name. well, it appears that that was his father's last name. and as to why that was his last name, i have no idea.