Volume 44, Number 19 · December 4, 1997
Not Getting the Lesson of the Master
By Louis Menand
Washington Square
a film directed by Agnieszka Holland
The Wings of the Dove
a film directed by Iain Softley
Agnieszka Holland's Washington Square is a movie about a shy and awkward young woman, Catherine Sloper, who falls in love with a smooth and beautiful young man. He is irresponsible and sybaritic, but he is also ardent and attentive, and he makes her bloom with passion and self-esteem. His suit is opposed, though, by the girl's father, a widowed physician who despises his daughter and resents her luck in love. The doctor is convinced, against the opinion of everyone around him, that the only explanation for the young man's interest must be his, the doctor's, own substantial fortune; and though it takes him several years and requires remorseless hounding, he succeeds in killing off the relationship, and with it his daughter's capacity for love.
Review, 3141 words
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