The Wings of the Dove (1997)

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.

Director:

Iain Softley

Writers:

Henry James (novel), Hossein Amini (screenplay)

Stars:

Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Alex Jennings

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 28 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Kate Croy
Linus Roache	...	Merton
Alex Jennings	...	Lord Mark
Charlotte Rampling	...	Aunt Maude
Ben Miles	...	Journalist 1
Philip Wright	...	Journalist 2
Michael Gambon	...	Kate's Father
Alexander John	...	Butler
Alison Elliott	...	Milly
Elizabeth McGovern	...	Susan
Shirley Chantrell	...	Opium Den Lady
Diana Kent	...	Merton's Party Companion
Georgio Serafini	...	Eugenio
Rachele Crisafulli	...	Concierge

Storyline

Kate Croy's mother was born to wealth and privilege, but she threw it all away to marry Kate's father, a penniless opium addict who admits to having stolen from his wife. After her mother's death, Kate is offered an opportunity to return to the life her mother gave up. There is a condition, however: Kate must sever all of her old ties, not only to her father, but also to her lover, the muck-raking journalist Merton Densher, whom she has promised marriage. Kate reluctantly agrees to this, and in the meantime becomes friendly with "the world's richest orphan," Millie Theale, an American making the Grand Tour. Desperate to see Kate, Merton crashes a party that she and Millie are attending, and Millie is attracted to him. When Kate learns that Millie is dying, she comes up with a plan to have her cake and eat it too...but all does not go as planned.

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Plot Keywords:

american | journalist | heiress | orphan | opium | 

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Taglines:

A couple with everything but money. An heiress with everything but love. A temptation no one could resist.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 March 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las alas de la paloma

Filming Locations:

Italy

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$183,610, 9 November 1997, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$13,718,385, 12 April 1998

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,000,000, 22 February 1998

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Renaissance Dove

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ewan McGregor was considered for the role of Merton Densher.

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Goofs

The tile pattern on the Underground stations the train passes through at the beginning of the film are identical in pattern and color for each station. Each station on the Piccadilly line had its own tile pattern and color scheme so that the illiterate could still recognize their station without needing to read the station name.

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Quotes

Merton Densher: I don't believe in any of the things I write about. I fake passion. I fake conviction.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Mad City/Bean/Starship Troopers/Eve's Bayou/The Wings of the Dove (1997)

User Reviews

Carter showcase of very good movie

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.