The Wings of the Dove

 3.5/4

Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Alison Elliot, Elizabeth McGovern, Charlotte Rampling, Alex Jennings, Michael Gambon

Rated R for Sexuality

A movie doesn't need gunshots and gore to be violent.  Take for example "The Wings of the Dove," the 1997 adaptation of the Henry James novel.  There's no action or blood, and the only violence is a brief (and unsuccessful) hunting scene.  Physically, this movie contains absolutely no violence.  Emotionally?  Well, that's a different story.

Kate Croy (Carter) has had her dream come true.  She grew up a poor common girl until the death of her mother.  Then her Aunt Maude (Rampling) brought her into a life of wealth and privilege.  There is a problem, however.  Kate is in love with a penniless journalist named Merton Denscher (Roache).  Maude is vehemently opposed to this, threatening to not only cast her out of society but also cut off her opium-addicted father (Gambon).  Enter Milly (Elliot), a sickly but wealthy American ("She'd be the Queen of America if they had one.  She's worth millions").  She and Kate become fast friends, then she sees Merton and her eyes are filled with lust.  The solution is obvious.  But is she willing to pay the price for it?

Is this cruelty or compassion?  Milly is dying and has no one to inherit her money when she dies.  She loves Kate and Merton.  Kate believes it works out perfectly: the lovelorn Milly can enjoy one last fling, make Merton rich enough to please her aunt (or at least to the point where Maude's opinions are irrelevant) and she can marry the love of her life.  She sees this as a satisfactory answer to her problem.  Of course this deception, but Milly need not ever know.  Right?  At least that's the plan.  But it's hard to scam one of your friends.

Setting aside the ethical considerations, let's consider the effect that it has on the two people who know the score.  Kate believes that her plan, duplicitous as it may be, will work out for the best.  But can she live with herself after doing something so cruel?  And how will she deal with the green-eyed monster when she sees Merton in the throes of another woman?  For his part, Merton isn't sold on the idea.  He wants no part of it and resists Milly's advances.  But she is beautiful and persistent.  The poor guy doesn't stand a chance.  Will he be able to keep to the plan?  More to the point, what's to stop him from genuinely falling in love with a lovely woman who makes it quite clear that she is available?

There's an old saying that tells us to beware of anything described as simple.  Cause it never is.  That's the case here.  Nothing is ever clear cut when sex and money are involved.  Especially when love enters the equation.  Kate and Merton are not just betraying the trust of a woman who has been nothing but kind to them, but they're risking their own souls.

A story like this can easily be soft-core sexual melodrama.  Just look at "Dangerous Beauty."  The key is the performances.  Helena Bonham Carter is one of those actresses who can do anything.  She's played a sadistic witch who thought nothing of killing her own cousin in the "Harry Potter" franchise to the reluctant Queen of England.  She turns a woman who could easily have been viewed as a manipulative bitch into a woman we like and understand.  She loves both Merton and Milly, and that makes her deal with the devil hard to keep.  Linus Roache may not have the sex appeal to show why two wealthy women would swoon over him, but his performance is so good that it hardly matters.  The key role in the film is not Kate, as one might assume.  It's Milly.  Playing the tragic American, Alison Elliot must do two things: show why Milly would fall so hard and so fast for Merton, and also be so kind that the audience understands why her friends hate what they're doing to her.  She plays the role marvelously.  Helena Bonham Carter got a deserved Oscar nomination for her work, but a case can certainly be made that Elliot deserved one as well.

Visually, this movie looks great.  Sumptuously directed by Iain Softley and lavishly photographed by Eduardo Serra, "The Wings of the Dove" is a feast for the eyes.  The film was updated from the 1902 setting of the novel to 1910 at the request of costume designer Sandy Powell, who wished to distinguish it from the Merchant/Ivory films that came out annually during the indie film heyday.  While this film targets the same audience and there are definite similarities, this is a bit more openly emotional than the "stiff upper lip" feel of "The Remains of the Day."  One effective choice that Softley does with his film is to show the eyes of his cast members.  Normally I despise this as a crutch of wannabe existential auteurs, but here it works because we know what the characters are thinking.  Their eyes betray their words, and show their inner turmoil.  Milly is doing everything she can to avoid thinking about the inevitable and making no secret of her love for her friends, while Kate and Merton are watching their own self-destruction.

Tragedies may not be an easy sell to viewers.  After all, who wants to sit through a movie that's going to make them feel miserable?  But when done right, they feel satisfying.  They touch the heart and enrich the soul.  "The Wings of the Dove" may not be a happy movie, but it is powerful in a way that only tragedies can be.