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starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Alison Elliott, Charlotte Rampling, Elizabeth McGoverndirected by: Iain Softley
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780788811913
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
ISBN: 0788811916
Label: Walt Disney Video
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Release Date: April 06, 1999
Running Time: 103 minutes
Sales Rank: 12665
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Theatrical Release Date: November 07, 1997
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Highly acclaimed as one of the year's most outstanding movies, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE is a provocative tale of passion, temptation, and greed. Helena Bonham Carter (HOWARDS END) delivers a stunning, award-winning performance as Kate, a beautiful young society woman whose desire for a common journalist (Linus Roache) presents her with an impossible decision: leave him, or marry -- and face a life of poverty. Events take an unexpected twist, however, when Kate befriends a lonely young heiress (Alison Elliott) whose own tragic secret offers an irresistible ... but dangerous ... solution. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards(R), this intriguing story of forbidden love is a motion picture event you won't soon forget!
Amazon.com essential video:
Queen of the costume drama Helena Bonham Carter finally got a chance to loosen her corset a bit with this exquisitely mounted (Sandy Powell's costumes were nominated for an Academy Award) romantic drama based on Henry James's classic novel. Set in turn-of-the-century London and Venice, Wings of the Dove is a stately departure--more PBS than MTV--for Iain Softley, director of Hackers and the birth-of-the-Beatles biopic Backbeat. But there's enough romantic intrigue to perhaps fuel a week's worth of daytime TV talk shows: My Lover Seduced a Dying Heiress for Her Money.
Bonham Carter, who won several critics association honors for her performance (she was nominated for a Golden Globe and Oscar as well) stars as Kate, who is engaged in a secret affair with Merton (Linus Roache), a journalist whose poor financial standing makes marriage impossible. Kate's manipulative aunt (Charlotte Rampling) threatens to disown her unless she marries the more suitable Lord Mark (Alex Jennings). Opportunity--admittedly sordid--arrives in the form of Millie (Alison Elliott), an American heiress whom Kate befriends. When Kate learns that Millie is dying, she suggests to Merton that he seduce her to make her last days happy, and ensuring that Millie will leave Merton her money when she dies. Merton reluctantly agrees, just as Kate begins to have second thoughts that threaten to sabotage the scheme.
One of the most rapturously reviewed films in recent years, Wings of the Dove is a must-own film for the Merchant-Ivory crowd. But guys: don't dismiss this as a 'chick flick.' Beneath its Masterpiece Theatre exterior beats the wild and untamed heart of Dawson's Creek. --Donald Liebenson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Good adptation, good acting, good entertainment.
Not exactly an award-winning-production but not commercial garbage either. Superb acting, especially by Bonham-Carter, nearly authentic 1910's atmosphere, good adaptation of a Henry James's novel. Children and teenagers may find it boring but adults certainly won't. 8/10
Rating:  - The Law of Unintended Consequences, via Henry James
This exquisite, if not entirely literal, adaptation of Henry James's novel of the same name, examines the relationships among three people, all of whom love each other in one way or another, but whose feelings are rooted in vastly different needs, agendas, and expectations. Through the lens of these relationships, we get a glimpse of the social limitations and values imposed by the class structure of Edwardian-era Britain.
Kate Croy, played by Helena Bonham Carter, in possibly the best ... Read More
Rating:  - Chick flick
Yes, this should be dismissed as a "chick flick," for that is indeed what it is. A three hankie, extremely long soap opera. The costumes and sets are excellent, and the acting is fine. The scenes taken in Venice are largely wasted, however, as they appear on screen for only seconds. The steamy sex scene near the film's conclusion shows conclusively that Helena Bonham Carter can act! On the whole, this is an irritating waste of time.
Rating: - Moody, elegant, perfect!
Not being a fan of Helena Bonham Carter, costume dramas, or Henry James, I purchased this DVD because it featured Venice. Now I can't wait to see it again. I was completely riveted. The growing sense of tension,as Kate manipulates circumstances to suit her own ends, and then becomes a victim of her own maneuvering, is hard to shake even several days after I saw the movie.
I did not feel the sex scene at the end was gratuitous or jarring in any way. In fact, it made complete sense. ... Read More
Rating: - Review
I gave it a 3 because I could not give it a 3.5.
I turned it off the first time I watched it because I did not like the first 20 minutes. About a week later I watched it and went through the whole thing. The scenery is great. I do watch movies for that but I expect a great performance. I do not blame the actors. I believe it was beyond their control. Not a bad flick. It was worth the money I paid for it.
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