The House of Mirth Reviews

With consummate grace and exceptional style, Terence Davies transformed Edith Wharton's caustic tragedy of manners into a somber, languid dream. New York, 1905: A charming, unmarried woman of increasingly limited means, Lily knows her time is nearly up; she's In the rarefied air of high society, where a young woman's vocation lies in marrying well and one false move can leave her reputation in tatters, Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson) is playing a dangerous game. getting older, she's been out in society for too long, and she's running up debts she can't repay from the allowance her aunt (Eleanor Bron) grants her. Lily piques the interest of a dull, wealthy prig (Pearce Quigley), but lets him slip through her fingers for an afternoon dalliance with the man she could marry for love, fortuneless lawyer Lawrence Selden (Eric Stoltz). In the eyes of her best friend Judy Trenor (Penny Downie), Lily's made a big mistake. But it isn't nearly as damaging as the financial arrangement Lily makes with Judy's husband (Dan Aykroyd), who agrees to invest a little money on Lily's behalf. When he starts handing her dividend checks with the expectation of a little gratitude, the tongues of Lily's vain and shallow "friends" begin wagging, and her downfall has begun. In a film studded with good performances &#151 Laura Linney is perfectly terrifying as Lily's smiling nemesis, Bertha Dorset &#151 Davies took a gamble with Anderson, a largely untried dramatic actress best known for her work on TV's The X-Files. The risk paid off: With a raised eyebrow and curled upper lip, she never seems completely comfortable in the role of coquette, and there's something slightly artificial about her performance. In a sense, she's perfect for the role of a woman who, as Selden describes her, "has it in her to be whatever she believed to be." When the mask slips, she's heartbreaking.