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The Age of Innocence Customer Reviews (13 - 15 of 33 Reviews)

The Age of Innocence
Even though a lot of people consider Goodfellas as the last true masterpiece of Martin Scorsese, in my opinion this movie deserves to be regarded in the same breath of his best movies. This is very different from what Scorsese is known for doing, makes me wonder if the movie would've been better received if it was not directed by him. This is truly an underrated movie.

The movie centers around three characters who are either trapped by the hypocrisy and conventionalism of the period of time they unfortunately lived in (Ellen Olenska and Newland Archer) or chose to adapt to that kind of society and blend with the conventions (May Welland). The relationships of the three characters provide the backbone for the story while laying out some insights to a society where being different is considered a major sin.

Daniel Day Lewis in one of his least showy roles (at least compared to My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, and The Crucible) was as always superb. He seemed a little detached from the character in the beginning of the movie but as the movie progresses towards the middle, he was quietly passionate and commanding. Michelle Pfeiffer, even though not exactly the first actress that comes to mind to play Ellen Olenska, was also superb. The tragic love affair between Newland and Ellen was powerful because of Day Lewis and Pfeiffer's passionate performances. Winona Ryder shows again why she is one the most exciting actresses of her generation (well at least at her popularity's peak) as she beautifully play the seemingly innocent May that was very instrumental to the effectiveness of the ending.

The ending was perfect. I consider this to be one of the best movie endings together with Casablanca, Seven, Chinatown, Bonnie and Clyde, Thelma and Louise, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to name a few. The "big revelation" about" May Welland, the potential reunion of Newland and Ellen, the quick flashback, and Newland walking away. Everything about it was perfect.

Grade: A

"Can't love you unless I give you up"
In the year 1993 Martin Scorsese surprised everyone by reining his directorship to Edith Wharton's most enduringly popular novel set in the Golden Age(1870s) of New York society. He is the most renowned and controversial director of his time specialising in theme of violent turmoil(guilt, desire,passion) which is commonly found in people.

Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), an upstanding gentleman and partner in a rewarding law firm, is engaged to the perfect society woman, the pretty and polished May Welland (Winona Ryder). Newland's world changes when he meets Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), May's beautiful,intelligent and 'different' cousin who has resided in Europe and going thru a divorce. Her liberal sensibility starts falling for Newland's fervent spirit.

Not a word of rigid social code is written down anywhere which governs how these people should talk, walk, meet, part, dine, work, love, and marry. But these people have been studying it since they were born. Here it is where Newland and Olenska dare to differ and hence begins a submissive tiff between the individual and the community. Newland has to make a painful choice between a passionate life with Olenska and a safe life with May--the life he was born and raised to lead.

We're guided on this voyage by narrator (Joanne Woodward), who understands all that is happening and makes it captivating by supplying at times the private thoughts of some of the characters.

Without a literal bloodshed the film offers meticulously designed costumes and settings that evoke a culture as classy in its surface as it is conflicting in its customs. Ryder and Pfeiffer glow in their respective acts, but it is Daniel's restrained performance that is a real turn-on, particularly his scenes with both the leading ladies and the last scence are to watch out for.

Over a decade old but the film leaves you thinking with a lump in the throat. Perhaps violence attains a new meaning here that Scorcese calls his "most violent film".


Visually ravishing, but Michelle Pfeiffer is all wrong
Martin Scorsese and his team have faithfully captured the atmosphere of Edith Wharton's magnificent novel, and most of the actors are up to the task. The production design and music are particularly splendid. But Michelle Pfeiffer is all wrong for the role of Ellen Olenska. In fact, I'd go so far as to say she ruins the movie. She's the wrong physical type, the wrong emotional type. Ellen is supposed to be a mysterious, exotic woman -- "different," as Newland Archer puts it. But Pfeiffer is anything but different. She's too all-American, too garden-variety-pretty, too much the cheerleader type. It's not that she doesn't have acting chops in general, but she doesn't have what it takes to carry off this role. She even resorts to a kind of kooky, indefinable, faux-foreign accent at times, to signal, I suppose, that Ellen has been living in Europe for years. She's just all wrong. That's why I give this otherwise spectacular film only 3 stars. Imagine what a more appropriate actress could have done with this role! Smoldered right through the screen. Anyway, you can always read the book, which is easily 5 stars and then some.

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