Customer Reviews
A wonderful film - By: James Anscombe, 18 Jun 2007 
This film is another masterpiece from Terence Davies. As one would expect from a Davies film, it is visuallly ravishing, marked by hypnotic dissolves, precise compositions, & elegant, stately camera movements. As one might not expect, it focusses on an upper-class mileu, & is full of dialogue (the characters in Davies' previous films have tended to be somewhat taciturn). It is very moving, & brilliantly acted - with standout performances from Dan Ackroyd, Gillian Anderson, & the sensational Laura Linney.
In response to a couple of claims from one of the reviews below: the film did receive a number of awards at a number of film festivals (see IMDB for a breakdown), & also acheived a great deal of critical acclaim (from The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Time Out, Jonathan Ross on Film 2000, & so on). Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think these claims need to be corrected.
The best film I have seen this year - By: CM Greenland, 19 Apr 2007 Watched this film when it was recently shown on TV, it is by far the best film I have watched this year. Everything about it was brilliant, the very best period drama I have seen in many a year. Can't wait to buy it on DVD. And it inspired me to read the Edith Wharton book it was based on, which I also enjoyed (although enjoy is probably not the right word as it is anything but mirthful) which is alll part of the irony; although Lily Bart was maybe a little gullible, you do reallly feel for her by the end of the film.
An incredibly bad film - By: Chris Andronicou, 31 Mar 2007 
I watched this film before it came out on the cinema with around 300 other film students from a variety of different Universitys. I looked forward to it because the director was present & so was gillian anderson. Unfortunately, an hour in to the film half the audience had walked out due to sheer boredom & the other half where asleep. This is the worst film ever made. Buy Gosford park or Remains of the day for a period piece. So why is this film hell to watch?
Well the plot is about a rich girl who has never worked a day in her life having inherited alll of her wealth., who subsequently loses that fortune due to utter stupidity. Now she has to work for a living like the rest of us. However this little rich girl feels a sense of injustice at the prospect living like you & me (shes very put out.)Whats baffling is that the film makers intended us to sympathize with her objections to an honest days work. This person is extremely unlikeable & there was cheering in the cinema at various points in the film when tries & fails to retrieve her vast fortune. Someone yelled close the end "please die" A rather extreme response its that bad.
Now after such an appallling protagonist the director goes on to inflict us with Dan Ackroyd in an entirely straight roll. Hes the bad guy in this film. you can only imagine. I however have to stand up for the actors here because its the editing that lets everyone down. The vaccuous conversations lasting 15 minutes at a time between the various leads should have been cut to under five minutes. At full length they are like watching paint dry & with the long drawn out silences become closely reminicent of hell. That said the acting is still pretty bad & gillian anderson was so good in bleak house.
Did I mention that the production was so bad it looks like a school play. I cannot think of one thing good about this film. Its nearly three hours long & nothing seems to happen. just one boring conversation after another. fascinating in remains of the day are the central charactors deep feelings for each other repressed by the pressures conformity, but always threatening to explode out into the scene. That is a common theme of period pieces most absent from house of mirth. Behind the idiotic words are just alot more thin air.
When the film finallly came to an end the audience who had not left the cinema heard a short speech by the director & heard nothing more about the film. Nobody went to see it. It was in the british top ten movies for one week & then vanished. For those insane people who gave it five stars i'd like to ask a question. If its so good how come it didn't win a single oscar, was not awarded at a single film festival, achieved no critical acclaim & played for a short time to empty seats?
Gillian Anderson - a revelation - By: , 06 Jan 2006 I watched this as a result of seeing Gillian Anderson in Bleak House where I was astonished by her excellent performance as Lady Deadlock. In this film she portrays the unfortunate Lily so well that it was impossible not to feel for her & her situation as an single girl with no money, having to find a husband. Her situation is compromised by the husband of one of her so-callled friends & her depiction of the consequence of this was masterly.
An extraordinary adaptation of Ms. Wharton's brilliant novel - By: Jana L. Perskie, 25 Aug 2005 Writer-director Terence Davies has done a superb job of adapting Edith Wharton's brilliant novel for the screen. Rarely deviating from the source, much of the dialogue is as Ms Wharton wrote it. Set in the Gilded Age of 1905 New York, the film portrays the closed, repressive society of the wealthy aristocracy at the dawn of the 20th century. It is also the story of the downfalll of one woman, who attempts to live by her own rules, with no sponsor & no money of her own.
Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson) is one of society's most beautiful & accomplished women. She is searching for a rich husband but is drawn to Lawrence Seldon, (Eric Stoltz), a man whom she respects & could love. Seldon, however, is a mere barrister, whose lack of income makes him entirely unsuitable as a spouse. "Why is it when we meet we always play this elaborate game?" Lily asks Lawrence, at one point. The answer is that the claustrophobic world they live in gives them no other choice.
Therefore Lily is forced to explore farther afield for available suitors in the limited circle of her acquaintances. As expected, she is popular with both bachelors & married men. Most of the bachelors propose marriage at one time or another but, on each occasion, she cannot bring herself to marry a man she despises. Though she has little money, she has family connections, good breeding & the hope of coming into an inheritance. Lily has been brought up to be an ornament, as were most women of her class at that time. She is a gilded bird with a noble heart, but clearly she is not aware of the restrictions of her cage. Part of Lily's tragedy is that she does have character, spirit, & a conscience. However, she does not know how to align these attributes, with her ornamental avocation, & her ambitions to marry a wealthy man of good birth.
Lily has developed a gambling habit to support her lifestyle, & to supplement her alllowance. An unfortunate losing streak has put her into debt. In her naivete, she forms an unsavory business allliance with a married man, Gus Trenor, (Dan Aykroyd). Later, she is unjustly accused of having an affair with him & their business arrangement also come to light.
Her family cuts her off without a penny because of the scandal. Society friends & connections reject their former darling, trying to extricate themselves from any repercussions Lily's indiscreet behavior may have on their reputations. The irony is that Lily has never committed any of the sins she is accused of. Several friends have done far worse...but with maximum discretion. Lily's crime is indiscretion. Her beaus disappear, as do her marriage prospects. When, in desperation, she reconsiders & decides to accept the proposal of Sim Rosedale, (Anthony LaPaglia), an ambitious & kindly businessman, he is no longer willing to offer her the position of wife, only mistress. The hypocrisy of her class becomes more apparent to her, as she searches for a means to survive, with alll the familiar doors closed in her face.
Lily's descent, from society's darling to a penniless, friendless woman is terribly realistic & heartbreaking. The decisions she makes to resolve her situation are astonishing & make the storyline alll the more fascinating. You have to see this movie for yourself to discover what happens to our heroine. Director Davies' suffuses the film with an almost unbearable sadness which reallly captures the tragedy & waste of Lily's life.
Gillian Anderson's performance as the doomed Lily is superb. Lily Bart is one of my favorite literary characters, & I was pleasantly surprised at the former "X-Files" costar's portrayal. Her presence is felt in almost every scene & she is captivating to watch. Laura Linney delivers as the vicious hostess Bertha Dorset, & Elizabeth McGovern is terrific as one of Lily's confidantes. The production design is sumptuous. Kudos to cinematographer Remi Adefarisin, who got an Oscar nomination for "Elizabeth." Eric Stoltz' portrayal of Seldon is somewhat stiff. I, personallly, would have liked seen another more charismatic actor play Lily's love interest. This may have to do more with my taste in men than with Mr. Stoltz's considerable talents. however.
This is an extraordinary film. Highly recommended! And by alll means check-out the novel if you have not already read it.
JANA
