Nice try from Scorsese

I’ve come to learn my lesson about period pieces. They’re not as stodgy and dated as I thought in my youth. Take “The Age of Innocence”, which is a prime example, still, of how those with nothing of real import to consider are usually the most dangerous. That’s one idea pulled off very well in Martin Scorseses’ handsome, refined, and quietly vicious adaptation of Edith Wharton’s 1870’s New York-set narrative of manners.

He also gets fine work out of a love triangle that includes Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder. Lewis is lawyer Newland Archer, engaged to be married to Ryder’s May in what appears more like a treaty between ruling classes rather than romance. He seems far more interested in her cousin Ellen (Michelle Pfeiffer), recently returned to America after a bad marriage, the particulars of which are a cause of gossip amongst those who love a scandal. This has made her an outsider, a woman who now must contend with loneliness on top of her current marital struggles. Archer seems to take pity on her, taking great efforts to get her in front of the right people, the right parties, the right residence even.

All is the tradition of New York life, where no one really does or says anything but overcompensates for that by being high-falutin perfectionists who will accept nothing less. Day Lewis has slightly more honorable intentions than most of them and Pfeiffer is considered dangerous not just for her situation, but because has the ability to think passed rigid social structure.

Is that enough for a romance? Day Lewis tries, giving the repressed Archer adequate torment as he deals with his feelings of wanting her vs. being afraid of the consequences and complications of ditching his fiancee for this more intriguing woman. What’s interesting about the character is that he isn’t even all that aware of how imprisoned he is until he realizes how caught up he is in society expectation. Pfeiffer shows just enough rebellion to let us know she’s one of society’s unique little oddities, even if she has no other choice but to try and join in. When these two are on screen, Scorsese seems to want the rest of the world and its feelings fall away, spotlighting only them. And Ryder gives May layers; she seems vacuous and incapable of any thought at first, only to surprise us later.

There is great craftsmanship to this film; its elegant period detail and attention to perfectionism comes through in every vivid, exceptionally photographed and realized scene. But the frequent narration from Joanne Wooward can feel way more like the film is telling rather than showing, the conceit of having these two lovers meet again and again only to feel more pain gets repetitive, and i’m not sure I ever felt the passion as much as the social critique. Maybe that’s the point. There is poignancy here but the romance seems buried under a lot of other period piece cliches. In the end you feel the sadness and loss, but the other emotions seem a bit muffled under all the high society minutiae.