It is very easy to reach wrong conclusions when you approach something superficially. For example, reduce to Martin Scorsese yet director of gangster films only because he has made several of his most popular films in that genre. Or that he only makes very masculine films aimed at male audiences. It sounds like exaggerated comments, but there are many people spouting just as bad things on the Internet.
It must be said that this prejudiced perception is not new. There were probably already many suspicions about him when it was announced that he was going to adapt to the cinema again ‘The Age of Innocence‘, the exquisite novel of Edith Wharton. There were doubts, even though Scorsese came from vindicating himself with the successes of ‘One of ours’ and ‘The Cape of Fear’ after a complicated decade of the eighties on a commercial and personal level -but not on a creative level-. But that was because they weren’t clear on the Italian-American’s abilities and the true themes of the novel.
impossible wish
‘The Age of Innocence’ takes place in New York (a very Scorsese key), in the year 1870. A sophisticated gentleman of high society (Daniel Day-Lewis) is engaged to a young woman from the same social ladder (Winona Ryder), hoping for maintain the status that was so valued in those circles. Our gentleman meets the unconventional cousin of his future wife, a countess (michelle pfeiffer) ostracized for wanting to leave her overbearing and unfaithful husband.
The Countess does not conform to the rigorous codes of the time. She yearns for freedom and to enjoy life after a very bitter alliance, but this is not tolerable in conservative circles, and her close circle tries to dissuade her. All except her cousin’s fiancé, more understanding and willing to help. Between both something more than a compression ratio begins to emergeand they try to do their best to contain an emerging passion that they know is not appropriate.
The movie makes interesting decisions to tell this relationship and the context in which it moves through small details that speak loudly, but with education. Although Day-Lewis is our main protagonist in this triangle, the narration tries to respect both his perspective and that of Pfeiffer’s character, maintaining the spirit of the novel. His approach to a world filled with oppressive codes and passively hostile social norms doesn’t stray too far from his exploration of the worlds of the mafia or from other criminal circles.
‘The age of innocence’: a masterpiece about resignation
Likewise, at the heart of the film there is an agonizing sense of melancholy, of resignation before the unconsummated desire. He also knows how to talk about that temptation, that impulse to challenge those rigid estates to pursue the yearning of his heart. Scorsese has explored a lot of those characters who long to challenge a superior force, be it the mafia or even God himself, almost by mere survival instinct. This is not a religious film, but the strict designs of the high society and the family in which Day-Lewis is introduced follow a very conservative dogmatism typical of strict Catholicism. And few have treated his complex relationship with religion better than Scorsese.
That’s why ‘The Age of Innocence’, a lavish period drama told with care and few fuss, is one of the most Scorsesian films of his filmography. And one of his greatest works in a career full of masterpieces. That this jewel is in the Netflix catalog is wonderful, because it gives us the opportunity to give us enormous joy. If you have been reluctant with her until now, or you have considered her lesser for not having the same kinetic adrenaline of her movies closer to the action, it is an opportunity to correct a historical injustice.