MOVIES: ‘Wings of the Dove’ Adds New Wrinkles to Henry James

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

NEW YORK, Dec 23 1997 (IPS) - Sex scenes in a Henry James story? Hard as it may be to believe, director Iain Softley has succeeded at bringing groping and nudity to one of the most reticent U.S. authors in his new Miramax film, ‘The Wings of the Dove’.

From an opening dream sequence, in which two lovers exchange glances on a subway and proceed to fondle each other in private, Softley indicates that, however much James’s novels are defined by prurience, his film adaptation will not be similar to the glossy, staid works associated with British producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory.

He succeeds, but only in part. ‘The Wings of the Dove’, now showing in U.S. cinemas in November, certainly shows viewers how much times have changed – one crucial plot twist is staged as a bedroom scene between the protagonists, Kate Croy (Helena Bonham- Carter) and Merton Densher (Linus Roache) – without getting to the heart of James’s story.

James often contrasted the innocence of Americans with the corruption of Europeans, and ‘The Wings of the Dove’ shares in that concern. Croy and Densher, both lacking the money to be wed, resolve on seducing a dying U.S. heiress, Milly Theale (Alison Elliott), into marrying Densher and bestowing her fortune on him.

Soon, however, Milly’s simple joy in life captivates Merton, turning a manufactured romantic triangle into a very real one.

Softley’s adaptation succeeds in making Kate Croy, ably played by Bonham-Carter as a confused woman trying to maintain the upper- class bearing and lifestyle she can no longer afford, as a complex and sympathetic character. But the director’s cynical staging of sex scenes contrasts with his absurdly romantic vision of a glowing, magical Venice – a city which James associated with underdevelopment, pestilence and death in his novels.

Ultimately, the film tips the scales too much: Kate and Merton seem too ‘modern’ in their dispassionate analysis of their relationships and financial concerns, Millie too ‘innocent’ in her devotion to pre-modernist philosophical musings.

“I love you – both of you,” Millie tells Merton in one key scene, ably contrasting a spirit of naive purity against Merton’s calculated betrayal of her.

Often, particularly when Roache displays his character’s confusion between the woman he desires and the one he learns to love, the film becomes a brilliant look at modern morals. Yet the film, the third recent adaptation of a Henry James novel following movies based on ‘Washington Square’ and ‘The Portrait of a Lady’, also begs several questions about the efforts to update the notably fussy author, famed for his precise and ironic sentences, for modern viewers.

As with last year’s ‘Portrait of a Lady’, adapted by Australian director Jane Campion as a surprisingly feminist work, Softley’s film brings sexual subtexts to the fore, making the characters’ thwarted passions seem more convincing. At the same time, however, such revisionism seems strangely anachronistic: one doubts that young lovers would have as much freedom in 1910 London or Venice as Softley believes.

As a result, ‘The Wings of the Dove’ ends up posing as much of a contrast between the end of the 20th century and its beginning as those between Americans and Europeans, innocence and corruption, the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy – all James’s great concerns.

Softley’s film may also be part of a growing trend among adaptations: movies that both elicit admiration for their shrewd revisions and confusion about what the directors were thinking.