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House of Mirth, The
Sony Pictures Classics


8.7

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG for thematic material

Starring Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Dan Aykroyd, Eleanor Bron, Terry Kinney, and Anthony LaPaglia

Lily Bart (Anderson) is a ravishing socialite at the height of her success who quickly discovers the precariousness of her position when her beauty and charm start attracting unwelcome interest and jealousy. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Terence Davies (adaptation) Edith Wharton (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Terence Davies
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 29, 2001 Video: May 29, 2001 Theatrical: December 22, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	140 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The stop-the-presses news from The House of Mirth is the number of fine performances from people you never knew had it in them.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The House of Mirth is not one of those teacup and doily movies; it's harsh and disturbing. Davies does superlatively right by Wharton. There's blood on the walls.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This stunning movie -- one of the very best of the year -- makes a much read American classic feel new and freshly devastating.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris

Her (Anderson) performance is a study in the difference between hubris and pride, remarkable for how unshowy but profoundly devastating it is.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Anderson, possessed of an eerily Edwardian aspect, is superb, luminous and knowing and convincingly proud and desperate as the situation requires.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Leisurely yet streamlined film, brilliantly adapted by British filmmaker Terence Davies from Edith Wharton's most powerful novel.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Davies has nailed Wharton's bitter satire of the flights and follies of New York society in the Gilded Age, and leading lady Gillian Anderson shows dazzling range in her portrayal of the book's doomed heroine.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The cast as a whole is astonishing--especially Gillian Anderson as Lily and Dan Aykroyd in his finest role to date.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Anderson's Lily is the kind of heroine who earns our protectiveness by never begging for it; it's an astonishing performance.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Although the cast is uniformly strong, the real revelation here is "The X-Files' " Anderson, who plays Lily with subtle gradations of emotional depth unexpected from someone who has made a career out of deadpan.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Has a marvelous, pent-up passion.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Above all else expresses the timeless impact of Lily Bart's plight.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie will seem slow to some viewers, unless they are alert to the raging emotions, the cruel unfairness and the desperation that are masked by the measured and polite words of the characters.

USA Today Staff [Not Credited]

Terence Davies' deliberately paced, earnest adaptation of Edith Wharton's breakthrough novel quietly captures the grim complexities of New York's social world nearly a century ago.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

There was little mirth or innocence in the world that Wharton was able to write her way out of (she was much happier living in Paris), and Davies and his leading lady lift the silks to reveal it as the minefield it was.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Terence Davies's The House of Mirth is a rigorously elegant adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel, and unlike in some other Davies movies, the rigor here doesn't turn into rigor mortis.... This is dourness of a degree you won't find in Wharton, but in its own shadowed terms the film is a triumph.

TV Guide Ken Fox

With consummate grace and exceptional style, Terence Davies transformed Edith Wharton's caustic tragedy of manners into a somber, languid dream.

Film.com David D'Arcy

Stick with the film, accept the rules of the time and the meditative rhythm of the language that Davies has woven into his story, and you won't be disappointed. Then read the novel. It's even better.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

This is very much Anderson's film. The publication of the novel made Wharton's reputation. The release of The House of Mirth should do the same for Anderson.

Miami Herald Sara Wildberger

While House of Mirth is well done as a period piece, it has such an eerie contemporary resonance that you nearly forget about the horses and corsets and lamplight.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Anderson brings real gravitas to the unfortunate Lily Bart, in an Oscar-caliber performance that makes one wonder what Academy voters are looking for.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

What the movie occasionally lacks is dramatic juice. A reader of the novel will have a greater sense of the obstacles keeping Lily and Lawrence apart than fresh viewers of the movie will.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Wharton's old-school compassion and Davies's taste for artfully wrought melodrama make an unusual but ultimately successful combination.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

How well you respond to this handsomely mounted, cold-blooded tragedy will depend on your feelings toward Gillian Anderson's highly theatrical lead performance.

Variety Derek Elley

Visually detailed but emotionally dry.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

In the lead, Anderson ("The X-Files") is competent but never quite makes the character come soaring to life.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Almost in spite of itself, The House of Mirth is powerful, at times even moving.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Viewers unfamiliar with Wharton's novel may have a hard time, especially at first, deciphering all the characters since Davies presents them at a steady clip while providing little background or explanatory material.

Slate David Edelstein

I can't recall another movie that cries out so incessantly for running commentary.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Anderson, in her first major non-Scully film role, is lethally miscast.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
This performance should have won Gillian Anderson the Oscar. The entire movie is like watching a beautiful painting come to life.

Yoon Min C. gave it a 9:
As an adaptation of a Wharton novel, House of Mirth takes an opposite approach to Scorsese's Age of Innocence. If Scorsese couldn't resisting glorifying(thru visual fascination)the very world Wharton was dissecting, House of Mirth takes a more down-to-earth, even plain look at this world of high society. Perhaps this is partly due to a smaller budget, but I feel this movie achieves something closer to Wharton's spirit whereas Scorsese's all-too-reverent adaptation resembles a glossy museum piece. The world portrayed in this movie is highly refined and genteel but also highly deceptive and a ruthless cardgame of facades. The heroine of the movie, bred and expected to succeed in this world, never understands the nature of the gamble or the stakes involved, and the movie slowly, achingly slides into muted tragedy. Great acting all around except by Dan Ackroyd whose villainous growls are saturday cartoon material.

Marina G. gave it a 7:
Anderson proves herself to be an exceptional actress, but the film is extremely dull despite the great acting.

Ruthanne gave it a 9:
It's a little hard to get into, but once you are into it, it is a brilliant film. Gillian Anderson was very good in that role.

Andrea H. gave it a 10:
I read this book years ago, even before becoming a huge Gillian Anderson fan. The book became my favorite and when I heard Gillian was doing the movie...I was in heaven. This movie is amazing. You may think it's dull at parts but you can't finish it and deny that Gillian is not absolutely wonderful as Lily. I love her...I love it! Watch it...or I'll kill you all. : )

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House of Mirth, The Sony Pictures Classics

House of Mirth, The
Sony Pictures Classics