During a 1976 magazine interview, Jimmy Carter (without being asked) voluntarily stated that he “looked on a lot of women with lust” and had “committed adultery in my heart many times.” That’s a bold statement from an allegedly happily married, God-fearing man seeking the highest elected office on the planet, but it didn’t seem to do any damage to Carter’s campaign. If anything, this made Carter more relatable to a larger swath of voters.
Had Carter made such a proclamation 100 or so years earlier in say, New York City, he would have been run out of town on a rail.
In Martin Scorsese’s “The Age of Innocence” (“Age”), the lead character Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) certainly lusts for Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), a countess who feels the same way about him. Newland does this in such a covert and surreptitious, yet diffident manner, barely anyone notices, at least, not at first.
All in the Family
Olenska is the cousin of May Welland (Winona Ryder), Archer’s comely, yet outwardly naïve fiancée. We’re never told how long the pair have known each other or the length of their engagement, but certainly get the impression their impending union is, to some degree, inevitable, if not fully arranged.Scorsese and co-writer Jay Cocks (adapting the 1921 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Edith Wharton) take a similarly vague approach to Olenska’s back story. Her first mistake was in marrying outside “the circle” to a (never seen) Polish count who financially bled her dry. She compounds the sticky situation further by announcing her plans to divorce the count, which is utterly verboten.
Obscene Wealth
Even by today’s standards, these people are surrounded by obscene levels of opulence. From the art that adorns their walls, to the warehouse of tailored clothing, to the impossibly fussy dining tableware, and enough gem-encrusted jewelry to purchase a small nation; it’s all just so overwhelming. It’s easy to see why everyone stayed in line.With the aid of set designs by Dante Ferretti and Robert J. Franco, and Gabriella Pescucci’s Oscar-winning costuming, seven-time Scorsese cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (in much the same manner as in “GoodFellas”) rarely stops. In tandem with 21-time Scorsese editor Thelma Schoonmaker, Ballhaus never allows the audience to fix their gaze on any one image at a time. This is just one of the many reasons why “Age” is a movie that can be viewed repeatedly without ever being fully absorbed.
If you’re a classical music follower and have trouble identifying the many symphonic and chamber pieces in the movie, don’t think any less of yourself. Other than a brief scene from Charles Gounod’s opera “Faust” that opens the film, the remainder of the score was composed by Elmer Bernstein and easily passes as works from century’s old past masters.
Character Transformations
Initially coming across as a bit dim and too eager to please, Welland is deathly afraid of losing Archer (which is more than warranted) and seems incapable of original thought. However, before it’s all over, Welland is the character that takes the biggest gamble and forever changes the future of all involved.While at first projecting an air of genteel sophistication and selfless chivalry, Archer ultimately proves to be a shallow and petulant man who isn’t nearly as honorable as he thinks himself to be. He ends up doing the right thing, not because he thinks it is the correct behavior, but more because he’s run out of options.
Olenska’s trajectory is the complete opposite of Archer’s. Viewed at the start as a pariah, it is her free spirit that irritates the stuffed shirt crowd and gets immediately under Archer’s skin. Although tempted on many occasions on a multitude of levels, she never sells herself short or defames her own character.
In the past half-century, Scorsese has made 42 features but is known to most people for his six movies about organized crime, which is unfortunate. With “Age,” Scorsese stepped far out of his comfort zone and delivered one of the finest films, not only of his career, but from anyone over the last 50 years.
