Based on Edith Wharton's 1911 novel detailing a forbidden love triangle, Ethan Frome (Liam Neeson) is torn between his joyless marriage to Zenobia (Joan Allen, Oscar nominated for NIXON and THE CRUCIBLE) and his longing for cousin and housekeeper Mattie Silver (Patricia Arquette). The film, by director John Madden would later direct the multi-Oscar winning SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, features a rare screen appearance by Katherine Houghton (GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER).
AGE OF INNOCENCE is another Wharton novel with a similar theme.
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Here's the film of a novel nobody liked in high school (but probably succumbed to when they read it in later life, as they should). Based on the book by Edith Wharton, it's one of those repressed romances of longing and regret carried out in real time and real life. Liam Neeson plays the humble Ethan, manipulated into marrying a plain and sickly woman (Joan Allen, every bit as good as she is in The Contender), who still manages to dominate him. When she grows so ill that Ethan requires help to care for her, they import her poor cousin (Patricia Arquette), who sparks thoughts in Ethan that never occurred to him with his wife. Neeson has a great fire within, as he confronts an array of possibilities that simply remain out of reach because the alternative is unthinkable in this tight-knit New England community. Arquette bubbles with life, while Allen can freeze blood at 100 paces with one of her icy glances. Slow-moving at times but worth it for the final payoff. Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love). --Mark Englehart
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