The House of Mirth is a 2000 film version of Edith Wharton's novel The House of Mirth. The film was written and directed by Terence Davies and starred Gillian Anderson.
Cast
Plot
It is New York City, 1905, and in the stem of a train appears the shape of a woman. We are introduced to Miss Lily Bart, a young, witty and beautiful socialite. She steps out of the station concourse and meets Mr. Lawrence Selden, a befriended laywer, and tells him, she missed the train to Bellomont, and so they decide to drink a tea together. At his flat she points out, how seldom he comes to see her at her aunt’s house, and he argues that the reason might be, she won’t marry him, because he is not rich enough. When she leaves his apartment, she runs into Mr. Sim Rosedale, who owns the building, the Benedick, and she wouldn’t tell him the true reason for her visit. At last on the train, she invites Mr. Percy Gryce to sit next to her. Mrs. Bertha Dorset, who is on her way to Bellomont as well, takes the seat next to Lily, who is eager to be not exposed in front of Mr. Gryce.
At Bellomont, Lily is further encouraged by Judy Trenor to attract Percy Gryce. Lawrence Selden arrives as well. In the evening, Lily walks with Mr. Gryce, and they arrange a date for the next morning to go to church, but Lily misses it on purpose, and runs into Lawrence and Bertha Dorset. When she says she would try to walk to the mass, she waits in the park for Mr. Seldom. They take a walk, sit down on the ground, and while weighing the disadvantages of both marrying for money or for love, they share an aroused moment and kiss.
Mr. Gryce leaves abruptly, because of Lily’s behavior. She also leaves for home. In the carriage she sits together with Gus Trenor, and they make an agreement on him helping her to make money through an investment. She is then again in a carriage with her aunt Julia Peniston, and Grace Stepney, another young woman, who shows an interest in the guest list at Bellomont. When Lily is alone upstairs in her room, the maid opens the door to let in a woman, who claims to have something Lily might be interested in. Apparently she found some letters of Bertha Dorset’s while cleaning up the rooms of Mr. Selden at the Benedick, and she sells them to Lily.
At a wedding, Lily receives a cheque from Gus Trenor about 5,000 dollars, who claims to have also reinvested another 4,000 dollars. He says, he’d like to see her some time, but she wards off and suggests him to come and see her at her aunt’s house. At last he invites her to the opera. Lily also meets Lawrence Selden and Sim Rosedale there, who shows a slight doubt about her money business. At the party, Lily also poses as „Living Art“ „Summer“ by Watteau. In the late evening, Lily takes off with Lawrence, they sit down on a quiet secret place, where he tells her, he loves her and they kiss, which may have been seen by Gus Trenor. Finally, at the opera Lily appears in a glamorous red dress, also a fan and white long gloves, and accompanied by Gus Trenor and Sim Rosedale, which doesn’t please her aunt Julia, even less the fact, that Lily has gambling debts from playing bridge, which is told to her by Grace Stepney. Lily leaves alone with Gus Trenor, and at his house, she eventually founds out, that they are alone in the building, so she insists to leave, but he won’t let her go, and demands she pays him back. He kisses her, but she flees and ensures him to pay her debt, which is now 9,000 dollars, since he wasn’t telling her he took his own money instead of hers to invest. At home, her aunt asks her to come to her room. Mrs. Peniston tells her she won’t give her any more money and how much she disapproves of Lily’s behavior. A devastated Lily goes to Grace’s room, who tells her not to go to Lawrence Selden for help.
The next morning Lily awakes in an empty house, since her aunt has left with Grace. She passes an invitation to the servant. At teatime, she expects Mr. Selden, but is surprised by Sim Rosedale, who seems to know about her plans. He wants to marry her, she responds, she’ll think about it. Later the same day, Bertha Dorset invites Lily to come and stay on their yacht for a cruise in the Mediterranean, mainly to entertain Bertha’s husband George. Lily agrees to come.
In Monte Carlo, Mrs. Carry Fisher meets Lawrence Selden, who just arrived from London. They worry about Lily. She’s on the yacht, accompanying George Dorset, while a young man is reading French poetry to Bertha. In the evening, the four of them get split up, and Lily and George look for them in vain, since Bertha drove off in a carriage together with the man. Next morning, an angry George enters Lily’s cabin, asking about Bertha’s whereabouts. Lily plays it down, but must realize Bertha didn’t come back. George pronounces to talk to Mr. Selden, who is an attorney of law. When Bertha finally arrives, Lily confronts her, but Bertha only suggests a compromise on Lily’s side. At dinner, Lily asks Lawrence, how the things are, but he answers, nothing changed. When people are leaving the table, Bertha openly pronounces, Lily doesn’t return to the yacht. Lawrence tells Lily to go to the Stepneys immediately to prevent being disgraced.
Back in New York, aunt Julia has died, and while people believed, Lily would heir everything; she gets a comparatively small amount, in contrast to Grace, who gets everything. When Lily eats dinner with Carry Fisher at the restaurant, they meet Judy and Gus Trenor, who treat her with coldness. Carry invites her to stay with her and the Gormers for the summer at her house Tuxedo. Carry believes, Lily must get married, and there are two possibilities, George Dorset and Sim Rosedale. When Lily goes out for a walk, she meets George, who asks her to speak on his behalf, since she was the only witness who saw what happened on the cruise, but she denies any knowledge. Back in the house, at last Sim Rosedale wishes to speak to her. She, now being ready to marry him, must see that he isn’t interested in her anymore. However, he knows about Bertha’s letters and suggests to use them against her, and after reparing her reputation, he will marry her, but she refuses.
Lily starts to work for Mrs. Hatch as her social secretary, when Mr. Selden tells her how he thinks this isn’t appropriate, but she defends herself saying she needs the money, since she already owes her whole legacy. Lily goes to the pharmacy to get Mrs. Hatch’s prescription of her sleeping draught, and takes it herself. She goes on buying it with false prescriptions in Mrs. Hatch’s name. After quitting working for Mrs. Hatch, Lily starts to work as a milliner, but gets fired as well, because her work was too slow and poorly. She goes to see Grace Stepney, at the house former belonging to her aunt, and asks her when the legacies will be paid, and if Grace could give her a loan, but she gets rejected by her. When Sim Rosedale invites her for a cup of tea, she tells him everything, but wouldn’t accept his help after all, because it would be exactly the same. In her rooms she lies on her bed after taking another sip of the sleeping draught.
The next morning Lily decides to confront Bertha Dorset with those letters she once wrote to Mr. Selden, but must see that the Dorsets left town, so she visits Lawrence Selden at the Benedick. She breaks down desperately, telling him, she knows she lost his love. When Lawrence isn’t looking, she throws the letters in the fire. She goes home, and receives an envelope, containing her legacy at last. She addresses to cheques, one for the bank, the other one for Gus Trenor, and takes the medicine once again. When she lies down in bed, she looses consciousness. Selden discovers the burnt letters of Bertha’s in his fireplace, but when he hurries to Lily’s apartment, the maid opens the door, calling it a great mercy. He asks to be alone with Lily, opens the blinds and lies down crying at her deathbed, telling her he loves her. The story ends in New York City, 1907.
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