The Age of Innocence | Rotten Tomatoes

The Age of Innocence

PG

Released Sep 17, 1993

2 hr. 18 min.

Drama

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List

88%

65 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Wealthy lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is engaged to sweet socialite May Welland (Winona Ryder) in 1870s New York. On the surface, it is a perfect match. But when May's beautiful cousin Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is estranged from her brutish husband, arrives in town, Newland begins to question the meaning of passion and love as he desperately pursues a relationship with Ellen, even though she has been made a social outcast by Archer's peers.

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Critics Consensus

Equal measures romantic and wistful, Martin Scorsese's elegant adaptation of The Age of Innocence is a triumphant exercise in both stylistic and thematic restraint.

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Mentor 5

Excellent actors, superb sets and camera work, but a mercilessly boring story. For me, a complete waste of time.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/01/24

Full Review

Alec B

One of Scorsese's neglected masterpieces (although I do see that it has been finally getting greater recognition) where physical violence is traded for a more sinister kind of emotional control. Everyone here is doing career best work and the editing is absolutely perfect.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/20/24

Full Review

Colin W

One thing is for sure: this movie looks good. I wanted to like it, but I was quite disappointed. The problem is, oddly, the central performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. His acting is incredibly flat. We all know he can act and can do an American accent (as he did memorably in Gangs of New York). But he's not right for the role. Why didn't they get an American? Michelle Pfeiffer is stunning, but she is the only life in the movie. And while I get that the material is set in a repressed Victorian setting, an R-rating would have made it much sexier and entertaining. It's not a good fit for Scorsese. He needs grit. The voice-over narration is clunky and distracting, and often the director's segues are ham-fisted. I expected a lot more out of this movie.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/08/24

Full Review

gioconda d

Stilted & phony accents

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/18/23

Full Review

Matthew C

Dull. Humerless and emotionless. Ages and ages of it. Hoped something might at tge end but just fizzled out.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

11/04/23

Full Review

Lilian G

Even though I really enjoyed Scorseses Camera work and the beautiful pictures, something was missing. To me it felt like there was no tension between the two leed characters so them suddenly beginning a love affair came as quite a surprise to me. In general I feel like the film was rather superficial and lacked in depicting emotional depth.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/06/23

Full Review

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Martin Scorsese

Director

Daniel Day-Lewis

Newland Archer

Michelle Pfeiffer

Ellen Olenska

Winona Ryder

May Welland

Richard E. Grant

Larry Lefferts

Alec McCowen

Sillerton Jackson

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The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - There Is Another Woman

2:28

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - Don't Make Love to Me

3:26

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - Pregnancy Trap

2:49

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - The End of the Affair

2:43

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - You Gave up What You Wanted Most

2:28

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - The Ship and the Lighthouse

1:50

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - Everybody Knows

2:02

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - Impossible Love

2:31

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - A False Life

2:19

The Age of Innocence: Official Clip - Is There Someone Else?

2:46

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The Age of Innocence: Trailer 1

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Anthony Lane

New Yorker

Life in the New York of the eighteen-seventies may have been constrained, but it was never dull—not if Scorsese’s camera is anything to go by.

Jul 24, 2023

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Joanne Woodward's narration is soothing without ever being folksy, while the closing scene, a shattering portrait of unbearable poignancy and regret, remains one of Scorsese's strongest endings...

Rated: 5/5

Mar 17, 2023

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

The Age of Innocence is a luxurious work of art.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 15, 2023

Full Review

James Croot

Stuff.co.nz

A movie of stolen moments, arranged meetings and outright lies, The Age of Innocence is potentially anything but what that title suggests.

Oct 16, 2023

Full Review

Michael Clark

Epoch Times

Scorsese has made 42 features but is mostly known for his six movies about organized crime. With “Age,” Scorsese stepped far out of his comfort zone and delivered one of the finest films, not only of his career, but from anyone over the last 50 years.

Rated: 5/5

Aug 12, 2023

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

... a magnificent piece of filmmaking, rich and textured and at times lovingly mannered as Scorsese appropriates and integrates silent movie devices into his yesteryear portrait.

Oct 15, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Wealthy lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is engaged to sweet socialite May Welland (Winona Ryder) in 1870s New York. On the surface, it is a perfect match. But when May's beautiful cousin Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is estranged from her brutish husband, arrives in town, Newland begins to question the meaning of passion and love as he desperately pursues a relationship with Ellen, even though she has been made a social outcast by Archer's peers.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: Martin Scorsese, Edith Wharton, Jay Cocks
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, Columbia Tristar
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Cappa Productions
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 17, 1993, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $31.9M
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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