As wonderful as those two are, it is Pfeiffer who impresses the most. Day-Lewis gives an impassioned performance, realistically fleshing out the inner torment of a man torn between the false life society forces upon him and the one he truly wants. Ryder is appropriately low-key, displaying May's naïveté while always hinting that there's more to her than meets the eye. The cast effectively captures the subtly expressed emotions of the characters. Sex would have trivialized the relationship the absence of any extensive physical contact between the two infuses the romance with greater poignance and significance. The passionate but sexless moments between Newland and Ellen are much more potent than any sex scene could ever be. The slow pace takes one into the heart and mind of Newland, acting as a metaphor for the slow buildup of his love for Ellen. What could be perceived as the film's flaws are actually strengths that add to its emotional power. But the film is never boring one can't help but get emotionally involved in the true-to-life characters and heart-tugging storyline. Many mainstream moviegoers will not warm up to The Age of Innocence the plot moves slowly, it's a romance with (horrors) no sex, and period pieces are a hard sell to the general public. But he instead gives her reason for divorce, for the two fall in a passionate romance that dare not speak its name.

When Ellen ponders divorce, May and Ellen's grandmother (Miriam Margolyes, providing refreshing comic relief) enlists Newland to counsel her against divorce and therefore prevent a scandal within the family. May's cousin, the exotic Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), returns to New York from Europe to flee from her troubled marriage. In this adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel of the same name, Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a lawyer engaged to the beautiful but naive May Welland (Winona Ryder). Violently expressed emotions, senseless brutality, the Mean Streets of modern-day New York, and other staples of director Martin Scorsese's films are traded in for muted passions, rigid etiquette, and the Innocence of 1870s New York in his latest film, The Age of Innocence, a spellbinding, Oscar-worthy tale of forbidden love in the nineteenth century. The Age of Innocence (PG) - September 1993 Reviews are listed in alphabetical order.Īll movies are graded out of four stars ( )

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