Movies:
Washington Square
DVD Release
- Release Date: 2002
- Widescreen image (1.85:1)
- cc
- Dolby Digital Surround Sound
- Rating:
- Genre: Drama
- Movie Type: Period Film, Romantic Drama
- Themes: Fathers and Daughters, Social Climbing, Self-Destructive Romance
- Director: Agnieszka Holland
- Main Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Ben Chaplin, Maggie Smith, Judith Ivey
- Release Year: 1997
- Country: US
- Run Time: 115 minutes
- MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
This film is the second effort to bring to the screen the 1880 Henry James novel of the same title (the first was The Heiress in 1949). Set in 1850 among the aristocracy of New York, Washington Square examines the inhibitions of Catherine Sloper (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the only child of wealthy Dr. Austin Sloper (Albert Finney). Catherine is clumsy and shy and something of an embarrassment to her high-class father. Dr. Sloper still unconsciously resents the child because her birth caused the death of his wife. He also disapproves of Catherine's attraction to Morris Townsend (Ben Chaplin), warning her that the handsome young man is after her money. He takes Catherine to Europe and warns her to break off her relationship with Morris, but she defies him. Townsend proposes, and Catherine accepts despite her father's threats to disinherit her if she marries him. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie GuideReview
After the critical lashing she received for Total Eclipse, Agnieszka Holland takes another, more successful stab at the period piece, this time adapting Henry James for the screen. Too many films based on classic literature risk brittleness in their attention to historical detail, but Holland and first-time screenwriter Carol Doyle present James' world as not so very different from our own. The tangled financial, familial, and romantic motivations that drive the plot would work in almost any time period, but the filmmakers include just enough Victorian social anthropology to differentiate the material from its contemporary equivalent. Jennifer Jason Leigh brings her usual meticulous technique to a less showy role than she usually fills. The interest lies not in her character's tics or instabilities, but in the way Leigh subtly demonstrates Catherine's evolution -- from clumsy girl to love-struck teen to grave, mournful, yet joyfully resolute woman. As Morris Townsend, Ben Chaplin makes an effective heartthrob; the character's mixture of noble ideals and callow grasping seems completely natural in his competent hands. The rest of the fine cast is led by the esteemed Albert Finney, as Catherine's conflicted father, but the best job comes from the reliable Maggie Smith, who turns in yet another hilarious supporting role, this time as Lavinia Penniman, Catherine's fretful, widowed aunt. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie GuideCast
- Jennifer Jason Leigh - Catherine Sloper
- Albert Finney - Dr. Austin Sloper
- Ben Chaplin - Morris Townsend
- Maggie Smith - Aunt Lavinia Penniman
- Judith Ivey - Mrs. Elizabeth Almond
Betsy Brantley - Mrs. Montgomery; Jennifer Garner - Marian Almond; Peter Maloney - Jacob Webber/Notary; Robert Stanton - Arthur Townsend
