The House of Mirth (2000)

I loved this movie. Thought Anderson was sensational. It felt so claustrophobic at times it felt like I was the one wearing a corset.

Underrated movie and I loved the tragic ending. Gillian was very good. I can’t believe that she was ignored by the Academy.

R1 Yes, this cemented Anderson as more than just the "science fiction" actress

The entire cast is unconventionally good.

Laura Linney was my favorite. So nasty

It IS The House of Mirth!

Why Gillian Anderson Why did you not marry the very wealthy man& then get back at all the people who wronged you at a later time?

R7 Because she wasn't in love with him. She let her emotions get the better of her.

Lily was selfish and impulsive.

I have to post this but..."What's LOVE got to do with it, What's LOVE a secondhand emotion."

Lack of $$$$$ is the root of all evil!!!Words

Great ending

One of the greatest novels of all time. Movie was fine.

The cloral stuff that she was addicted to, do they still make it?

[quote]Laura Linney was my favorite. So nasty

BERTHA IS A RIGHT OLD CUNT

[quote]Lily was selfish and impulsive.

No, Lily was too moral for her mileu. She couldn't bend her character to fit the times.

You wanna talk selfish, how about Undine Spragg? No morals at all and she flourishes.

Watching her suffer one indignity after another made ME want to drink poison. Just tragic. I thought Gillian gave a powerful performance.

well done, I do recall Dan Akoyd sort of sticking out like a sore thumb

I'm not sure I've seen the film since the cinema but is there as scene where Eleanor Bron humiliates Gillian Anderson?

R17 Yes, Bron plays Anderson's extremely Victorian aunt who humiliates her in public and in private in both life and death

The last scenes and the end credits play the third movement of Borodin's beautiful string quartet No 2

That olde Bitch, hated her!!

Awesome music though, suits the film perfectly.

R20 who was the bitch? Eleanor Bron? Gillian Anderson?

R16 Aykroyd didn't stick out, he was very good I thought.

Eleanor Bron, of course...OLDE Victorian Aunt, she should have gotten some DICK, loosen the Fuck up!

I will always remember Eleanor Bron and William Daniels fondly from Two for the Road. And, of course, she played Patsy's self centered mother on Ab Fab.

Eleanor Bron was also great in Women in Love with Alan Bates, Glenda Jackson, and Oliver Reed

They keep saying they're finally going to make a movie or miniseries of "The Custom of the Country," but they fail to do so.

R11 what about Ethan Frome?

The film utterly heartbreaking

Amazing novel and a damn solid film.

I hope that no one tries to remake this. They’d have to do a bang up job.

Eleanor Bron really is a great actress. Glad she is remembered

[quote] It felt so claustrophobic at times it felt like I was the one wearing a corset.

🙄

I spent the better part of this century trying not to Lily Bart myself. Gillian was award-worthy.

Is Gillian a good actress?

Eleanor Bron also good in the original Bedazzled with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook featuring this catchy number.

House of Mirth is excellent and I put it alongside other period drama favourites. I can’t however think of a more depressing day than a double bill of House of Mirth and Wings of the Dove although both are excellent. Maybe add Portrait of a Lady to make it a three and then I think I’d jump out of the window backwards after!

Anyone know any other period dramas in this vein? I’d love to watch some other movies like this one.

R36 has some good suggestions, R37.

R37 Here is basically every period film I can think of. Some are more comic, others sad, all have good acting and writing:

The Go Between (1971)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

The Europeans (1979)

Heat and Dust (1981)

Brideshead Revisited (1981)

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

Gandhi (1982)

A Passage to India (1984)

Amadeus (1984)

Out of Africa (1985)

A Room with a View (1985)

84 Charring Cross Road (1987)

Dangerous Liaisons (1987)

Maurice (1987)

The Last Emperor (1987)

Valmont (1989)

Henry V (1989)

The Enchanted April (1992)

The Secret Garden (1992)

Orlando (1992)

Howards End (1992)

The Remains of the Day (1993)

The Age of Innocence (1993)

The Madness of King George (1993)

The Piano (1993)

Schindler's List (1994)

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

The Portrait of a Lady (1996)

Emma (1996)

The English Patient (1996)

Hamlet (1996)

The Wings of the Dove (1997)

Washington Square (1997)

Amistad (1997)

Elizabeth (1998)

The Golden Bowl (2000)

In the Mood for Love (2000)

Gosford Park (2001)

David Copperfield (2001)

Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

Finding Neverland (2004)

The White Countess (2005)

The Painted Veil (2007)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

The Last Station (2009)

The King's Speech (2010)

12 Years a Salve (2013)

Victoria and Abdul (2017)

The Favourite (2018)

And I am sure there are a ton of others I am forgetting! Happy watching!

R37 Did that help?

R139 yes. Thanks. There’s a couple I haven’t seen such as The Last Station and Victoria and Abdul.

Warning: do not watch The Boy In Striped Pajamas.

It is the most appalling sentimental attempt to humanise Nazis and "both sides" the experiences of the persecutor and the persecuted.

OMG that poor little German boy accidentally getting into the gas chamber with the Jews! His poor parents! Fuck off.

I worked in a library a long time ago and The House of Mirth was by far the most borrowed item that we had. By like a few hundred more loans that any other item. DVDs would tend to break or need to be replaced after 200 circs. Oddly, THOM, with almost 500 circs never had a problem. I always figured it was a movie that people borrowed intending to watch but then couldn't get in the mood for it. I loved the book; never saw the movie.

R43 Interesting. Maybe because it was harder to find?

R42 Do you agree with the rest of the list? I was trying to come up with good quality period films

Good list, R45. I would add "White Mischief," a bit of a later period but still a fun film.

[quote]Why did you not marry the very wealthy man

Especially when he was played by Anthony LaPaglia, who was dead sexy at the time.

[quote]Is Gillian a good actress?

Gillian is very good in The X-Files.

Gillian is very good in everything.

This thread is reminding me that I really need to check out more films of late eldergay Terence Davies. I think I'll start with The Deep Blue Sea.

Fritz Weaver just threatened to hold Scully in contempt of Congress.

R46 I love White Mischief. Sarah Miles is a hoot!

I did not like Gillian Anderson in 'The Crown'.

Gillian Anderson was appalling as Thatcher. The Spitting Image puppet put in a better performance.

Another good one: Reversal of Fortune (1990) with Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close

i cried when I watched it

I just finished watching Bleak House, the series with Gillian Anderson. It was very good.

R39 As an Agatha Christie fan, I would add Death on the Nile, Evil Under the Sun and Murder on the Orient Express. I like both the films with Peter Ustinov and the Poirot episodes with David Suchet.

R57 Yes! All three are good. "Murder" was posh; "Death" was a witty; "Evil" is just pure fun!

They filmed a lot of the location scenes in the West End Of Glasgow, which has many grand Victorian mansions.

I had the pleasure of meeting Terence Davies as a friend had put on a film industry event to celebrate his career. We spoke about his approach to adapting Wharton, and Scorcese's approach. He told me Scorcese had taken him for a good lunch in NYC, in Balthazar. I said I preferred his 'Mirth' to the Age of Innocence and he took my hands and said to my friend 'can I LEGALLY adopt him?! ' What a sweet sensitive man he was and one of the great Post-War cinematic artists.

R60 what an excellent story. Thanks for that. What a great thing for Davies to have heard.

Any other films I'm missing? I just thought of three, all starring Ralph Fiennes:

Wuthering Heights (1992)

Onegin (1999)

Sunshine (1999)

R24

She was also in Help!

We should have an Eleanor Bron appreciation thread.