House of Mirth stars Gillian Anderson as Lily Bart, a beautiful and unmarried woman in her late 20s who moves in rarefied New York social circles that belong to those privy to wealth by birth and inheritance and those who have earned their wealth in business. The opening scene shows her meeting her bachelor friend, Lawrence Selden (Eric Stoltz), and having tea with him at his apartment. There through expository dialogue, we are introduced to aspects of her predicament - her financial instability, her single status, and how she is perceived by her friends. After tea and on her way down the stairs, she encounters Sim Rosedale (Anthony LaPaglia), a member of the same circles that she and Lawrence frequent. He asks what she is doing in a building that housed bachelors and she gives the excuse that she was visiting her dressmaker. She has done nothing wrong but it becomes clear in those few lines that the perception of immorality has great power. These opening minutes set the framework of the movie and its inexorable conclusion.
The rest of the movie follows Lily's struggle to survive in this elaborate gilded cage of elegant homes, fashionable parties, lavish dinners, lazy weekends in the country, vacations in Europe, and conspicuous wealth. She is not only trapped by the material world, and specifically her debts incurred by foolishness and some naiveté, but by the intangible rules and unforgiving protocols of the time and the social class that she chooses to inhabit. She is also a single woman of strong character in a time that did not accept or make allowances for such women. Yet even these powerful forces would not have been enough to overcome her had she not been imprisoned by the most insidious of prisons that every one of us is trapped by; herself. Lily's upbringing, knowledge, and, almost the most admirable and damning of all, her moral character, limit her to seeing only few options and choices. The tragedy of the movie is that in a later time, place, or setting, Lily would be the kind of character who would surmount these obstacles to succeed beyond anyone's imagination. We can only watch as Lily stays true to herself and is ruined as a result.
One of the technically interesting things that I liked about this movie is the subtlety of emotions displayed by the understated and polite dialogue and by the skills of the actors. There are many other cues throughout the movie that assist in telling the story. In a desperate moment, Lily invites Lawrence to tea at 4 in the afternoon to ask him for help. We see Lily sitting alone on a couch looking out a sun-drenched screened window. The clock is chiming the hour - one ... two ... three ... four ... ...five. She gets up and something in her physical language radiates a kind of despair. In other scenes, we see subtle shame from those who know the truth about Lily and her situation but do not act for fear of acquiring the same stigma that has been wrongfully attached to her. I'm looking forward to reading Wharton's novel to see how her criticisms and sharp observations of this culture develop in her writing.
Why didn't I enjoy the movie? My current theory is that I am a victim, to an extent, of my own character and upbringing. I've never understood the lifestyle of the idle rich and have always had difficulty watching any movies or dramas about characters who are extremely privileged. It is one thing to watch, analyze, and empathize with the problems of the human condition as illustrated by those who struggle with the problems of life. It is another to try to do the same with those who have no problems with the substance of living and, in many cases, have created their own problems out of carelessness, boredom, or greed. It was also difficult for me, as a single male raised in the late 20th century, to understand the social scandal attached to single women in their late 20s and the numerous aspersions that could be cast on her character for innocent actions. I didn't understand the behavior of her various "friends" who failed to stand up in her defense or to save her at her most desperate. Most of all, it was difficult for me, as a person of modern sensibilities, to sympathize with a character who failed time and time again to make the clear, if sometimes socially unacceptable choices, to save herself out of pride and an almost visceral desire to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Those things made the movie unenjoyable for me. It seemed to me that, unlike the heroes or heroines of great character and ability in the great Tragedies where Fate and circumstances conspire to destroy them, Lily had many paths to take that would have led her, in the best of cases, to a happy life. In retrospect and having thought about Lily's character in depth, I understand what the movie was trying to convey and feel that it succeeded. But I didn't enjoy watching it and maybe that's a good thing.
Anyhow, I give this movie a 6 out of 10 on our usual Good Movie Scale and a 8 out of 10 for technical and storytelling merit - probably what might be called a True Movie Critic Scale if we were real movie critics. Why the two numbers? Well, as Joel pointed out, the scale really reflects how much we enjoyed the movie. Our Good Movie Scale measures how entertained we were by the elements of the movie that were done well (acting, cinematography, directing, storytelling, and so on). Our Bad Movie Scale measures how entertained we were by the elements of the movie that were done badly (intentionally and not). House of Mirth is definitely a good movie but it's not for everyone and probably not to the people who tend to like our reviews (The biggest hint is that there's no drive-in list. There's an instance of Dan Aykroyd Kissing Fu but not much otherwise). Definitely see it if you're an Edith Wharton fan or are interested in movies that have some literary depth to them.
