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The anti-literary adaptation >> Iain Softley looks beyond Henry James in The Wings of the Dove by MATTHEW HAYS
Softley's choices include shifting the period of the film slightly. "The book was first published in 1902. We set the film in 1910. I wanted to make it more about the beginning of the modern world, to set it at a specifically pivotal point." Softley cast the film himself, hand-picking Carter and relative newcomer Roache on the strength of his moving performance in Priest. "I think Carter really connects emotionally with her characters. She doesn't hide herself in a method, which makes her very easy to work with as a director. She's very relaxed, she's always herself." He also pushed several of the book's characters further into the background, highlighting the central romantic triangle. He also wanted to play up the Venice setting. "The city becomes another character in the book. Venice is a city that's had a very big effect on me. I've absorbed things about Venice that have found their way into the movie. For a filmmaker, the architecture and structures of Venice are almost like a map of human intrigue itself, with things hidden around corners and various choices of where to go. It's like life itself--not a straight line, unlike most film scripts." The Wings of the Dove is a strikingly accomplished film. It marks Softley's third feature, and an odd trilogy it is. His first film was Backbeat, a romance about the early years of The Beatles. Then came Hackers, a thriller about a rogue group of adolescent computer petty criminals. And now--Henry James? What kind of a director does Softley see himself as? "I don't really think about it. I don't really think about modelling myself on a director like John Huston [who had a terrifically varied career] or anything. I just make films about things I'm truly interested in. "Though it's not immediately apparent, there are consistent themes running through my work. Visual elements and music are always very precious to me. I like to portray people who are on the edge of the society of the time. People who are aspiring to live their lives on their own terms." Opens Friday, Nov. 14. See film listings for showtimes
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The Wings of the Dove has Helena Bonham Carter portraying a turn-of-the-century twentysomething woman caught between love and fortune (it's technically a literary adaptation of the Henry James novel). Her Victorian aunt informs her that in order to achieve wealth and maintain a certain social status, Carter must marry the right man. Carter soon falls for Linus Roache, who plays a dashing, intelligent journalist who's simply not of the right class strata. Alison Elliott is Carter's wealthy American heiress friend, hopelessly in love with Roache, who in turn is hopelessly in love with Carter. The three venture to Venice, where Carter hatches a complicated plot to allow all three to achieve their dreams of romance and wealth. As with Washington Square, James intricately explores the messy relationship between money and love. But while Agnieszka Holland worked to restore much of James's original intent to the screen in Washington Square, director Iain Softley has worked in a very different direction.