The Age of Innocence
Release date: 1993-09-10
Votes: 1144
Genres: Drama, Romance
In 19th century New York high society, a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
Reviews
CinemaSerf
I can’t help but think the praise this gets is as much to do with Martin Scorsese venturing far from his usual style of violent, gritty, drama onto the manicured lawns more readily frequented by Merchant Ivory. Though he does it well enough, this story of New York high society takes a very long time to get to exactly where we expect it to get to, and along the way the tedium of it’s, frequently unrequited, love triangle(s) make heavy going to watch. It’s all about lawyer “Newland” (Daniel Day-Lewis) who is affianced to “May” (Winona Ryder) but seemingly way more intoxicated by her cousin, the “Countess Olenska” (Michelle Pfeiffer) who has fled from an abusive marriage in Europe as the nineteenth century comes to a close. Though it may not actually be set in Victorian Britain, it’s fair to say the the societal expectations, snobberies and double-standards are just as prevalent and hypocritical here too and though a countess she may be, a divorced one will still be shunned and shamed by the likes of matriarch “Mrs. Mingott” (Miriam Margolyes). “Newland” initially feels obliged to stand in her corner a little - out of a sense of loyalty to his future wife’s family, but of course the more they interact the more a predicable relationship develops. “May”, meantime, isn’t impervious to her beau’s change in affections but is not entirely sure in which direction they are now pointing, and so the seeds are now sown for a story of love, lust, betrayal and quite possibly sadness, too. It does look good with all the costumes, stately houses and production design delivering a classy product - but for my money, a product is exactly what it is. There isn’t a scintilla of chemistry between DD-L and anyone, really, and Pfeiffer delivers her lines as if she were rehearsing for an Oscar Wilde stage play. Ryder only features sparingly but she does inject a semblance of decent vulnerability to the proceedings and both Margolyes and Geraldine Chaplin add a little extra class to the proceedings, albeit in rather set-piece scenes, as it trundles along - but this is a story we’ve seen or read many times before, just transferred to a new city where the elite behave just as they would in London or Paris or Vienna, only without the titles and the provenance. Perhaps because we Brits are weaned on period drama, it’s harder to see the wood for the trees but for me this is nothing at all special and the arrival, towards the end, of Richard E. Grant really sums up it’s gorgeous blandness. Stick with the 1934 version.
Movie Recommendation
Kundun1997-12-25The Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama as 'Kundun', which means 'The Presence'. He was forced to escape from his native home, Tibet, when communist China invaded and enforced an oppressive regime upon the peaceful nation. The Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 and has been living in exile in Dharamsala ever since.More...
The Big Shave1967-12-29A young man walks into a meticulously clean and sterile bathroom and proceeds to shave away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene.More...
White Oleander2002-10-11A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.More...
The Tale of Zatoichi1962-04-18The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.More...
White Palace1990-10-19Max Baron is a Jewish advertising executive in his 20s who's still getting over the death of his wife. Nora Baker is a 40-something diner waitress who enjoys the wilder side of life. Mismatched or not, their attraction is instant and smoldering. With time, however, their class and age differences become an obstacle in their relationship, especially since Max can't keep Nora a secret from his Jewish friends and upper-crust associates forever.More...
Bowie: The Man Who Changed the World2016-05-09Experience an inside look at David Bowie's incredible influence on music, art and culture via interviews with some of the people who knew him best.More...
Dragon Inn1967-10-21China, year 1457. The Minister of Defense is executed, and his children are sentenced to exile by order of the tyrannical Tsao. Fearful of future revenge from the young people, Tsao sends cruel soldiers to murder them, but a brave group of swordsmen can change the course of the battle at the Dragon Inn.More...
Paper Heart2009-08-07Paper Heart follows Nick and Charlyne on a cross-country journey to document what exactly "love" is. Interviewing ministers, happily married couples, chemists, romance novelists, divorce lawyers, a group of children and more, the determined young girl attempts to find definition and perhaps even experience the mysterious emotion.More...
The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life1972-12-22A successful businessman whose destiny leads him to a secluded Swiss chalet where his life is put on trial by a group of retired law professionals. The men assemble to analyze Sordi's rise to power and his increasingly immoral behavior as he attained success, and the warped perceptions of right and wrong he has adopted to remain successful.More...
The Tale of Zatoichi Continues1962-10-12Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love.More...
The Lovers1958-11-05A shallow, provincial wife finds her relationship with her preoccupied husband strained by romantic notions of love, leading her further towards Paris and the country wilderness.More...
Performance1970-08-03In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.More...
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II2008-11-16Seth Green and Matthew Senreich serve up more hilarious Star Wars-inspired satire in this second compilation of sketches featuring the zany stop-motion animation of Adult Swim's "Robot Chicken." Gary the stormtrooper deals with irascible boss Darth Vader on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, while Anakin babysits a certain up-and-coming Jedi.More...
Rocket Science2007-01-19Hal is a 15-year-old high-school student with a minor yet socially alienating (and painful) disability: he stutters uncontrollably. Determined to work through the problem, Hal opts for an extreme route – he joins the school debating team, which sends him on a headfirst plunge into breakneck speech competitions and offers a much-needed boost toward correcting the problem.More...
Ararat2002-05-20Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.More...
The Insurance Man1986-02-22Franz, a young man, works in a dye factory in Prague. One day he notices a rash-like eczema, growing on his hands. All attempts to treat it with ointment fail, and the rash gradually spreads over his body. After complaining to the management he is laid off work; his relationship with his fiancee is affected. In an attempt to get compensation from his former employers he looks to insurance firm Assicurazion Generali, where he encounters an enigmatic clerk called Kafka.More...
Nijinsky1980-03-20A ballet dancer struggles with his homosexuality and the increasing allure of a young ballerina who seeks to draw him away from his domineering lover.More...
Sunset Sunrise2025-01-17In 2020, the world is forced into lockdown by the COVID pandemic. As remote work is popularized in order to keep the infection rate under control, a young man employed by a company in Tokyo moves to a country town on the Sanriku Coast in Miyagi Prefecture, where he could enjoy fishing, in search of a new lifestyle. But gradually, we found that there were problems such as "empty houses" in the local area.More...
¡Ay, mi madre!2019-03-29When her estranged mother suddenly dies, a woman must follow the quirky instructions laid out in the will in order to collect an important inheritance.More...
Similar Movies
Onegin
1999-12-22A virtuous and passionate girl falls in love with a cynical but a dashing aristocrat.The Evening Star
1996-12-25Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.Death in Love
2008-07-17Death in Love is a psychosexual-thriller about a love affair between a Jewish woman and a doctor overseeing human experimentation at a Nazi German concentration camp, and the impact this has on her sons' lives in the 1990s.Villain
1971-05-26In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.The Handmaiden
2016-06-011930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.Kronika žhavého léta
1973-08-31A broadly drawn ideological epic set in the summer of 1947 in the borderlands of northern Bohemia: reactionary elements plot to undermine postwar social change while committed local communists struggle to organize workers and defend the emerging order. The narrative follows several archetypal figures—steadfast party activists, wary peasants, and obstructive reactionaries—whose clashes illustrate the claimed inevitability of working-class victory under communist leadership.'Twas the Night Befor...
2022-12-17A former actress trying to break into directing tests her skills with a town’s annual Christmas Eve courtroom production in which the true authorship of the famous poem “A Visit from St. Nick” is debated.Rytmus 1934
1980-11-28Twenty-year-old Karel is expelled from Bata's school of work and has no choice but to make his way in his uncle Kubát's publishing business at any cost. A very drastic adaptation of the draft has fundamentally changed the whole story, which is also set in a completely different historical context. The result was a schematic and tepidly propagandistic poster.Prince of the City
1981-08-19New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice help eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.Anna Karenina
1948-01-22Stefan and Dolly Oblonsky have had a spat and Stefan has asked his sister, Anna Karenina, to come down to Moscow to help mend the rift. Anna's companion on the train from St. Petersburg is Countess Vronsky who is met at the Moscow station by her son. Col. Vronsky looks very dashing in his uniform and it's love at first sight when he looks at Anna and their eyes meet.True Confessions
1981-09-25A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.The Chocolate War
1988-11-18Jerry, a new student at an elite Catholic prep school, must face the hazing practices handed down by the Vigils, a group of powerful students. When teacher Brother Leon pushes the students to sell chocolates for a fundraiser, the head of the Vigils, Archie, gets Jerry to reject selling for 10 days. However, Jerry decides to keep up the refusal past the original time frame, which pits him against the Vigils and the school staff.The Mark of Zorro
1940-11-08In 1820 Spain, the son of a California nobleman comes home to find his native land under a villainous dictatorship. On one hand, he plays the useless fop, while on the other, he is the masked avenger Zorro.Walkaway
2010-10-29Four intersecting stories, each exploring different aspects of love and companionship, as four friends struggle to find their way through the meanders of Indian matrimony, in a bittersweet attempt to combine their deep-rooted tradition and 'modern' New York life in perfect harmonyI Fall in Love With Y...
No data for this movieSet in the year 2060, it follows a love story as Tokyo's third Olympics draws near. Takeru Oosawa, who works for the AI Robot Technology Research Lab, is chosen as a member of the national secret project using humanoid robots. With the help of childhood friend and co-worker Youichirou Amano and his sister Saki, Takeru tries his best to reach his objectives. However, the situation changes when Saki's office receives a warning note for terrorism.Libeled Lady
1936-10-09When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the publication's frazzled head editor, Warren Haggerty, must find a way to turn the tables on her. Soon Haggerty's harried fiancée, Gladys Benton, and his dashing friend Bill Chandler are in on a scheme that aims to discredit Connie, with amusing and unexpected results.The Beguiled
1971-01-23Offbeat Civil War drama in which a wounded Yankee soldier, after finding refuge in an isolated girls' school in the South towards the end of the war, becomes the object of the young women's sexual fantasies. The soldier manipulates the situation for his own gratification, but when he refuses to completely comply with the girls' wishes, they make it very difficult for him to leave.Cuba
2002-02-22There is no descriptionZnámost sestry Aleny
1973-10-05A psychological drama about a nurse and a seriously ill car racer and factory driver...St. Louis
2019-10-21Hamburg, Germany, 1939. Getting a passage aboard the passenger liner St. Louis seems to be the last hope of salvation for more than nine hundred German Jews who, desperate to escape the atrocious persecution to which they are subjected by the Nazi regime, intend to emigrate to Cuba.