MovieChat Forums > Washington Square (1997) Discussion > Age discrepancy.

Age discrepancy.

posted 21 years ago by LilyMae
8 replies | jump to latest

On www.amazon.com, they criticize Jennifer Jason Leigh's age, and how she looks next to Ben Chaplin:

In biographies written before 1990, Jennifer Jason Leigh claims to have been born in 1958. Recently, she's changed that to 1962. In either case, she definitely looks a bit odd in this 1998 release playing a 20-year-old opposite the youthful Ben Chaplin.

Jennifer Jason Leigh was 35-years-old in the movie. In The Heiress, and in the same role, Olivia de Havilland was 33-years-old. Ben Chaplin, as Morris, was 27-years-old. Montgomery Clift, in the same role in The Heiress, was 29-years-old. These ages aren't that different from one another, so why criticize the newer version? I just was perturbed by www.amazon.com's hasty comment.

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[–] gummitch-2 20 years ago

Well, I wouldn't bother about it either.
In those days women looked much older than what they look now: now a 28-year-old is still a girl. In those days even 20-year-olds could look like old spinsters.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is usually very pretty, but here of course she must look plain.

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[–] reececup 19 years ago

Also, it's obvious that Catherine is not meant to look young and pretty. I'm studying the novel by Henry James and its adaptations in my English course, and while reading the novel, it's very easy to forget that Morris is actually a bit older than Catherine. I believe my professor said he's about 35 while she's in her early to mid twenties. If you haven't read the novel, it's excellent, and easy to understand for a book written in the late 1800s.

[–] LilyMae 19 years ago

Yes, I've read the book, and did so after seeing both The Heiress and Washington Square. And you are right about it being one of the "easier" books to read, which was written in the 1800s.

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[–] nywwjpsa 19 years ago

Yes, and Jennifer Jason Leigh WAS born in 1962, not in 1958. 1958 was when her older sister was born.

[–] JaneSchmo 16 years ago

What I found harder to accept was Albert Finney and Maggie Smith playing brother and sister. And playing a 20-year-old's father and aunt.

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[–] maggief317 15 years ago

It would not have been uncommon for the father to have taken a much younger bride hence the "older" father and aunt.

[–] Devans00 16 years ago

During one of the fights between Catherine and he father, he mentioned she was twenty six. He said something about having more than 26 years of experience dealing with people like Townsend.

Twenty years old was still within reasonable marriage age back then. Having Catherine be closer to 30 than 20 underscores her "desperation" to latch on to the first man who looked at her twice.

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[–] cookiela2001 13 years ago

I though she looked very young in this.

In fact, I was only thinking the day after I watched it, "WHEN was that made? How is she still playing girls in their 20's?"

It didn't bother me while watching it at all, though this was on a TV screen. Maybe the age difference is more obvious in a movie theater.