Cheap The Wings of the Dove (DVD) (Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache) (Iain Softley) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Wings of the Dove

Three Leads Are Fantastic Plus Excellent Rendering of James
I generally find Henry James' novels much too impenetrable to read. Thus, I've found myself relying on the film versions of his works instead. His work reaches its finest hour in this adaptation of his novel of the same name. I am glued to my seat every time I watch this for it is a fabulous love triangle beautifully played by all three leads. The leading man, Linus Roache, is my favorite actor in this film. He is perfect with both women plus you really feel for his predicament. He also is the most conflicted character. Helena Bonham Carter plays the woman he is in love with but, because he has no money, she sends him to Venice to captivate a rich, dying young woman, Milly, so that Milly will leave him her fortune. In the last scenes of the movies, Roache captures facial expressions of this man's conflicts that are sheer perfection. I want to see much more of Roache on the screen but he has not played that many roles as yet. Bonham Carter and the actress who plays Milly are also quite splendid. I can't think of anything negative to say about this film.

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Gorgeous tale of desire and desperation
Henry James had the ability to develop intricate characters with extraordinary psychological depth, but his prose style is so dense (his friend Edith Wharton admitted that in places his writing is almost imcomprehensible) that few people are willing to dig down to the stratum of pure gold. What this beautiful film does is to excavate for us. It is a tale about a good person, someone who doesn't want to harm anyone, driven to manipulate the hearts of her lover and her best friend to get what she needs. Helena Bonham Carter brilliantly portrays a woman strong enough to withstand anything but her own feelings of guilt. I think that this story, written late in James's life, of someone on the outside looking in on a world of security and love is his story. James is Kate. The envy of Milly for who and what she is is palpable. Milly's money permits her to be honest and good, but her sweetness, in turn, makes her desirable to Merton. Milly is who Kate/James would like to be. On a less armchair psychological level, this is an incredibly romantic movie. Clothes before 1914 were more beautiful and just plain sexier. Stolen kisses -- and beyond -- really thrilled because they were so dangerous.

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Miramax: ever hear of anamorphic?
I'd like to review this film, but Miramax (and others) are still polluting the market with non-anamorphic transfers. The single star is for that bone-headedness. The film may deserve 5 stars for all I know.