The Age of Innocence

(Martin Scorsese/US/1993/138mins)

There have been love scenes in which naked bodies thrash in sweaty passion, but  rarely more passionate than in this movie, where everyone is wrapped in layers of Victorian repression. The big erotic moments take place in public among fully clothed people speaking in perfectly modulated phrases, and they are so filled with libido and terror that the characters scarcely survive them.

Scorsese, that artist of headlong temperament, here exhibits enormous patience. We are provided with the voice of a narrator (Joanne Woodward), who understands all that is happening, guides us, and supplies the private thoughts of some of the characters. We learn the rules of the society. We meet an elderly woman named Mrs. Mingott (Miriam Margolyes), who has vast sums of money and functions for her society as sort of an appeals court of what can be permitted, and what cannot be.

With infinite care and attention, May Welland defends her relationship with Newland Archer. May knows or suspects everything that is happening between Newland and the Countess, but she chooses to acknowledge only certain information, and works with the greatest cleverness to preserve her marriage while never quite seeming to notice anything wrong.

Each performance is modulated to preserve the delicate balance of the romantic war. Daniel Day-Lewis stands at the centre, deluded for a time that he has free will. Michelle Pfeiffer, as the countess, is a woman who sees through society without quite rejecting it, and takes an almost sensuous pleasure in seducing Archer with the power of her mind. At first it seems that little May is an unwitting bystander and victim, but Winona Ryder gradually reveals the depth of her character’s intelligence, and in the last scene, all is revealed and much is finally understood.

Scorsese is known for his restless camera; he rarely allows a static shot. But here you will have the impression of grace and stateliness in his visual style, and only on a second viewing will you realize the subtlety with which his camera incessantly moves, insinuating itself into conversations like a curious uninvited guest. At the beginning of The Age of Innocence, it seems to represent a world completely alien to us. By the end, we realize these people have all the same emotions, passions, fears and desires that we do. It is simply that they value them more highly, and are less careless with them, and do not in the cause of self-indulgence choose a moment’s pleasure over a lifetime’s exquisite and romantic regret.

The rich setting, which includes some elaborate dining scenes, contributes to bringing the tensions to screaming pitch.

in double bill with

When the Pie was Opened

(Len Lye/Ministry of Food/UK/1941/8 mins)

An imaginative wartime recipe for a vegetable pie – with blackbirds

Why not book for the Victorian cookery demo to see historical recipes recreated before your eyes?