Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An impoverished woman who has been forced to choose between a privileged life with her wealthy aunt and her journalist lover, befriends an American heiress. When she discovers the heiress is attracted to her own lover and is dying, she sees a chance to have both the privileged life she cannot give up and the lover she cannot live without.What is interesting to me is how great an actress Helena Bonham Carter has been, apparently since the beginning. She did not really come to my attention until "Fight Club" (and then even barely) or the films of Tim Burton. But she had been doing great period pieces for a while. This film narrowly predates "Fight Club", and if I had been someone who followed the Oscars at the time, I would have taken more notice.That is the beginning and end of this -- a showcase for Bonham Carter. Not that it is a bad film, but it is not terribly remarkable and already largely forgotten.

The inevitable question will be: is "The Wings of the Dove" faithful to its source material? I, alas, can't answer that question for you, because to me Henry James's novel was 800 pages of random words strung together in ways that resembled sentences but made absolutely no other kind of sense. I'd rather be bludgeoned to death with one of his books than ever have to read another one -- the movie version could have featured transvestite cyborgs for all I cared; as long as I wasn't actually having to read it, I was a happy boy.The film is pretty good, about what you'd expect from a period piece based on a famous literary classic. It's got more pizazz than a Merchant-Ivory production, and boasts a great performance from a Merchant-Ivory regular, Helena Bonham Carter. It's nothing special, but probably worth a watch.Grade: B

This is a movie which might be overlooked for the romantic side of it because some people tend to judge a movie as trash if it is about romance. Well, I agree but not all romantic movies are the same. There are romantic movies that have messages which go beyond the emotion of love to the twin emotions jealousy, envy, sexual desires, respect, humanity, sacred love, pain and many others. All these feelings you can still experience in a romantic movie cooked well.Wings of dove is a movie with a plot and actually there is a part in the middle of the movie where if you pay attention carefully you might be able to understand what's going on before the story starts revealing its chapters. Actors are great; Helena Bonham Carter is indeed good in this role and Alison Elliotte is just as good and even better. Linus Roache also knows how to exhibit his transmitting emotions in a brilliant way. He knew how to play the difference which is a thin line between love and desire. You only have to guess whom he loved and whom he desired.

Directed by Iain Softley, "The Wings of the Dove" is a period drama set in England, which tells the story of Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter), a beautiful, wealthy, woman who wishes to marry a common journalist, Merton Densher (Linus Roache.) Their love is forbidden by society, until a young heiress from America (Alison Elliot), enters their lives, and tempts the couple to set forth an unorthodox plot to be together.The acting in the film is superb. Helena Bonham Carter's sensual, thoughtful, performance as Kate Croy earned her many critics awards, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (This reviewer maintains that she should have won.) Supported by a wonderful supporting cast, Alison Eliot delivers a touching performance as the young heiress, and Linus Roache is magnificent as Bonham Carter's poverty-stricken love interest. The film is further enhanced by the beautiful cinematography, at it's best in the scenes set in Venice, and the gorgeous costumes. Ten stars