
DATE: Sunday, November 23, 1997             TAG: 9711250825

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie Review

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

A COOL TAKE ON JAMES' EROTIC ``DOVE''

SEX, MONEY and greed.

Now there's the stuff of a steamy movie. Right?

Maybe. Put them into a modernization of Henry James' 1894 novel ``The Wings of the Dove'' and you have the making of erotica but, as directed by Iain Softley, it's erotica held at a distance.

Moviemakers persist in trying to adapt James' novels in spite of the fact that their introspective, interior nature often remains elusive. ``Portrait of a Lady'' was a noble effort but simply came across as dull. Surely the best James adaptation remains William Wyler's ``The Heiress,'' with a superlative performance from Olivia de Havilland. It has now been remade as ``Washington Square,'' awaiting release here.

As Kate Croy, the greedy, manipulative heroine of ``The Wings of the Dove,'' Helena Bonham Carter has her most modern role, in spite of the turn-of-the-century costumes. Kate is a forerunner of the film noir heroines that manipulated men to their own advantage. Barbara Stanwyck could easily have essayed this woman in a modern version.

Kate is supported by her rich aunt (a stern-faced Charlotte Rampling) who plans a rich marriage for her. Secretly, Kate is in love with a journalist, and that means, of course, that he has no money. Not willing to give him up, she devises a plan whereby he will woo and marry a dying, rich, American girl and inherit her money.

The difference is that the scheme may or may not be as cruel as it seems. Both schemers grow to like, perhaps love, their victim and, after all, maybe the best way to die is being pursued in this way. The contrast between cruelty and love is explored - sorta.

Bonham Carter (``A Room with a View'') has matured beautifully, both physically and as an actress. She has the kind of porcelain beauty here that was once suggested by the young Elizabeth Taylor. The camera lingers over it in detail. This is quite her best performance, yet she still is a flame that never quite gets hot.

She gets precious little help from the two miscast sides of the triangle. Linus Roache had hotter love scenes in what many thought was the shocking ``Priest.'' Here, his portrayal of the journalist seems so low-key that one wonders what either of the women would have seen in him.

Alison Elliott, looking like an amazon when photographed beside the diminutive Bonham Carter, plays the rich American who visits Europe. Elliott is remembered in ``Spitfire Grill,'' but she simply can't suggest the kind of wealth that she should here. And if she's so wealthy, why is she so lonely that she's such easy prey for these two connivers?

Elizabeth McGovern, sadly, is relegated to playing the chaperoning aunt - a career unrealized since her Oscar nomination in ``Ragtime.'' Michael Gambon, one of the stage's finest actors, has a too-brief role as Bonham Carter's alcoholic father.

Director Softley was responsible for the movie adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel ``Jude the Obscure,'' one of the most thoroughly depressing but nonetheless admirable films of the last year. He has taken more liberties with James' novel by expanding the Venice setting. It seems that, in the movies at least, the British always go to Venice to be sexually liberated.

See this one for the gorgeous costumes, for Bonham Carter's performance and for a new take on a literary work. Don't expect, though, to be whisked away on any wings of passion. This kind of eroticism is notably cool. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

MOVIE REVIEW

``The Wings of the Dove''

Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Alison Elliott,

Charlotte Rampling, Elizabeth McGovern, Michael Gambon

Director: Iain Softley

MPAA rating: R (sexuality)

Mal's rating: Three stars

Locations: Naro in Norfolk