Synopsis
Kate is secretly betrothed to a struggling journalist, Merton Densher. But she knows her Aunt Maude will never approve of the match, since Kate's deceased mother has lost all her money in a marriage to a degenerate opium addict. When Kate meets a terminally ill American heiress named Millie traveling through Europe, she comes up with a conniving plan to have both love and wealth.
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Cast
- Helena Bonham CarterKate Croy
- Linus RoacheMerton Densher
- Alison ElliottMillie Theale
- Elizabeth McGovernSusan Stringham
- Charlotte RamplingAunt Maude
- Alex JenningsLord Mark
- Michael GambonLionel Croy
- Ben MilesJournalist 1
- Philip WrightJournalist 2
- Diana KentMerton's Party Companion
Recommendations
- 100
San Francisco Chronicle
The difference is that Iain Softley, who directed Wings of the Dove, and his screenwriter Hossein Amini, who wrote the overlooked "Jude," are keen observers who bring a wealth of ambiguity and mystery to the surface -- and release their characters from the cliches that easily could have swallowed them. - 90
Salon
The rigid distinction usually made between a terrific outfit movie and cinematic art is just another barrier washed away in the overflowing riches of The Wings of the Dove. - 90
The New York Times
Few films have explored the human face this searchingly and found such complex psychological topography. That's why The Wings of the Dove succeeds where virtually every other film translation of a James novel has stumbled. - 88
Chicago Sun-Times
In The Wings of the Dove, there is a fascination in the way smart people try to figure one another out. The film is acted with great tenderness. - 88
ReelViews
The Wings of the Dove is not a happy tale, but it is a vivid and unforgettable one, featuring multi- dimensional characters, beautiful cinematography, impressive set design, and accomplished acting. - 80
Los Angeles Times
Wings of the Dove is richly appointed and beautifully mounted, with lush location shooting in Venice given the place of honor. - 75
San Francisco Examiner
Softley and Amini say they consciously viewed Kate as a film noir kind of heroine, a beauty leading a good man astray. And that, added to the setting of the second half of the movie in canal-riven Venice, gives the story the kind of moral haziness that verges on Thomas Mann territory. - 70
The New Republic
Softley worries a bit, quite unnecessarily, about keeping our interest; so he lays in a number of overhead shots and considerable zooming at the start of sequences. But his work with his cast is sure, except for the miscast Elliott, and he generates the right internal heat between the lovers.
