The Age of Innocence (1993)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Richard E. Grant, Alec McCowen, Geraldine Chaplin

Those who have never experienced what Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Newland Archer (Daniel Del Lewis) go through in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence are very lucky. The pain can be so intense and so overwhelming that it can literally force one to give up on life. And if one does, the scary thing is that it is awfully difficult not to agree with the destructive logic behind the tragic end: Why live a long and excruciating lie?

Olenska and Archer meet in nineteenth-century New York, a booming city with big ambitions that has enthusiastically embraced old and new money and quickly produced its own elite class of aristocrats, just like the one that many of its new European residents have fled. Olenska is one of the many newcomers, but her story is different. She was born into wealth in America and after years of being married to a Polish Count and living in his home country she has left him and returned to New York to begin a new life. But it has not been easy. Her husband has stolen her wealth and is now refusing to finalize the divorce papers that would transfer some of it back to her. After initially standing by her, Olenska's relatives have also casually began expressing concerns over her decision to legally end her marriage to the Count as they have realized that it will eventually have an impact on their reputations. Archer crosses paths with Olenska on the day he announces his engagement to her cousin, May Welland (Winona Ryder), a young and very beautiful but also somewhat shallow girl. Having heard plenty of demeaning rumors about Olenska's legal troubles and personality, Archer is quite surprised and overwhelmed by her elegance and striking personality, and after a few more casual encounters falls madly in love with her. Soon after, it becomes obvious that there is a mutual attraction, but with their lives heading in completely different directions the two are left to struggle with their feeling and emotions.

The film represents a very faithful and convincing take on Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, but it still has its own distinct cinematic personality. It comes from Scorsese's decision to structure and treat it as a personal confession of sorts whose goal is to calmly deconstruct what is essentially a doomed relationship. As a result, there is a special sense of sadness that permeates it which cannot possibly be credited to the novel.

Plenty of the film's personality also comes from the manner in which Scorsese imagines New York and reveals how its growing prosperity impacts the two protagonists. The city appears to be defined by its wealth but, sadly, also by the striking hypocrisy of its elites, so while slowly coming to terms with the realization that they will have to sacrifice their love Archer and Olenska also discover that they must embrace the hypocrisy that is actually keeping them apart. Frankly, it is what makes the entire film so heartbreaking – as demoralizing and devastating their pain is likely to be, it is only one part of an even bigger tragedy.

The principal actors are spectacular and it is really a shame that at least one of them did not win an Oscar. Costume designer Gabriella Pescucci did, and rightfully so, as the period costumes, dresses, and decors are absolutely flawless.

One area where the film appears somewhat vulnerable is the editing. A few of the stage performances and some of the narration that helps with the transitions could have been managed better.

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