December 19th: THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (Martin Scorsese, 1993)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
In the "Guilded Age" of 1870s New York City, a man engaged to be married finds himself drawn to his fiancee's cousin, and must navigate high society's unwritten rules as he questions his future.
Edith Wharton was born into east coast aristocracy in 1862, and from a very young age was writing and telling stories, her first poems published by the time she was 16 and over the protests of her family. After years spent cultivating her social standing, marriage, and various trips to Europe, she finally began her proper writing career near age 40, with short stories, plays, and novels, including her widely-read The House of Mirth and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Age of Innocence.
Martin Scorsese in the early 1990s was coming off two of his biggest commercial successes, GoodFellas and Cape Fear. His longtime friend, film critic Jay Cocks, had lent him a copy of The Age of Innocence years earlier, but it wasn't until here that Scorsese finished reading it and saw something appealing in the material for his artistic interests. While the majority of his films had been set in the present day or close to it, he was a fan of costumed dramas and inspired by the films of Albert Lewin (The Moon and Sixpence, The Private Affairs of Bel Ami), Lucino Visconti (The Leopard, Senso), and Max Ophüls (Letter From an Unknown Woman), among others.
Cocks and Scorsese wrote the script together, taking notes in their own copies of the book and discussing each section before constructing the scenes. Much attention was paid to the highly-detailed culture of the world with regard to dining, writing, art, etc. and these objects are dwelled on throughout the finished film. According to Cocks the screenplay was completed in less than a month. But it took some time to find a studio to fund the project.
Daniel Day-Lewis, a recent Oscar-winner for My Left Foot, was Scorsese's first choice to play the lead role, and was joined by recent Oscar-nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns, Dangerous Liaisons) and rising star Winona Ryder (Heathers, Edward Scissorhands). Rounding out the cast are familiar character actors Jonathan Pryce (Brazil), Richard E. Grant (Bram Stoker's Dracula), Geraldine Chaplin (Nashville, Doctor Zhivago), and Old Hollywood veteran Norman Lloyd. Oscar-winner Joanne Woodward provides the narration in Wharton's critical and often-sarcastic voice, a choice Scorsese fought for as he felt a man's voice would not be appropriate.
The film was shot mostly on location in New York City, despite a century of time having passed since the story's setting. Sets were constructed in local buildings where pre-existing spaces could not be found, supervised by production designer Dante Ferretti, a veteran of Italian cinema who had worked with Fellini and was sought out by Scorsese. Additional shooting was done in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Paris, France. Behind the camera was former Scorsese collaborator Michael Ballhaus GoodFellas, The Last Temptation of Christ). A new Arri camera device allowed him to slow down and speed up the film easily during a shot, which Scorsese used to experiment with during various scenes. There are also bursts of color that shots fade to during emotional moments, something inspired by Powell & Pressburger's Black Narcissus.
The Age of Innocence received mostly positive reviews, and barely made its budget back at the box office. It received Golden Globe nominations for Best Film (Drama), Best Direction, Best Actress for Pfeiffer and Best Supporting Actress for Ryder, who went on to win. It did not fare as well at the Oscars, with nominations for Ryder, Ferretti, Elmer Bernstein's memorable score, the screenplay, and Gabriella Pescucci's costumes, the latter its sole win. The film is now regarded as one of Scorsese's finest films.
Running time is approx. 2 hrs, 20 min.
In the "Guilded Age" of 1870s New York City, a man engaged to be married finds himself drawn to his fiancee's cousin, and must navigate high society's unwritten rules as he questions his future.
Edith Wharton was born into east coast aristocracy in 1862, and from a very young age was writing and telling stories, her first poems published by the time she was 16 and over the protests of her family. After years spent cultivating her social standing, marriage, and various trips to Europe, she finally began her proper writing career near age 40, with short stories, plays, and novels, including her widely-read The House of Mirth and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Age of Innocence.
Martin Scorsese in the early 1990s was coming off two of his biggest commercial successes, GoodFellas and Cape Fear. His longtime friend, film critic Jay Cocks, had lent him a copy of The Age of Innocence years earlier, but it wasn't until here that Scorsese finished reading it and saw something appealing in the material for his artistic interests. While the majority of his films had been set in the present day or close to it, he was a fan of costumed dramas and inspired by the films of Albert Lewin (The Moon and Sixpence, The Private Affairs of Bel Ami), Lucino Visconti (The Leopard, Senso), and Max Ophüls (Letter From an Unknown Woman), among others.
Cocks and Scorsese wrote the script together, taking notes in their own copies of the book and discussing each section before constructing the scenes. Much attention was paid to the highly-detailed culture of the world with regard to dining, writing, art, etc. and these objects are dwelled on throughout the finished film. According to Cocks the screenplay was completed in less than a month. But it took some time to find a studio to fund the project.
Daniel Day-Lewis, a recent Oscar-winner for My Left Foot, was Scorsese's first choice to play the lead role, and was joined by recent Oscar-nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns, Dangerous Liaisons) and rising star Winona Ryder (Heathers, Edward Scissorhands). Rounding out the cast are familiar character actors Jonathan Pryce (Brazil), Richard E. Grant (Bram Stoker's Dracula), Geraldine Chaplin (Nashville, Doctor Zhivago), and Old Hollywood veteran Norman Lloyd. Oscar-winner Joanne Woodward provides the narration in Wharton's critical and often-sarcastic voice, a choice Scorsese fought for as he felt a man's voice would not be appropriate.
The film was shot mostly on location in New York City, despite a century of time having passed since the story's setting. Sets were constructed in local buildings where pre-existing spaces could not be found, supervised by production designer Dante Ferretti, a veteran of Italian cinema who had worked with Fellini and was sought out by Scorsese. Additional shooting was done in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Paris, France. Behind the camera was former Scorsese collaborator Michael Ballhaus GoodFellas, The Last Temptation of Christ). A new Arri camera device allowed him to slow down and speed up the film easily during a shot, which Scorsese used to experiment with during various scenes. There are also bursts of color that shots fade to during emotional moments, something inspired by Powell & Pressburger's Black Narcissus.
The Age of Innocence received mostly positive reviews, and barely made its budget back at the box office. It received Golden Globe nominations for Best Film (Drama), Best Direction, Best Actress for Pfeiffer and Best Supporting Actress for Ryder, who went on to win. It did not fare as well at the Oscars, with nominations for Ryder, Ferretti, Elmer Bernstein's memorable score, the screenplay, and Gabriella Pescucci's costumes, the latter its sole win. The film is now regarded as one of Scorsese's finest films.
Running time is approx. 2 hrs, 20 min.
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