Review of The Wings of the Dove

As stated in my summary, the acting in this movie is excellent, the visual feel it has as a period piece really hits the mark. However, and keep in mind I have not read the novel, I was not really all that convinced of the sincerity of the characters and it seems that they were made to play it down. I think this is entirely evident when Mille asks Kate if she loves Merton and she just kind of spits out "no" (and there were many such scenes). Now I know that Helena Bonham Carter is a much better actress than that so I assume it's just the director not wanting her to put too much pain in her voice or something but I just didn't feel that it worked. In the scene with Millie and Merton, when she is too sick to do anything and he breaks down and apologizes for lying to her about his feelings for Kate, there just isn't enough of a "come to Jesus" moment... I mean, he's fallen in love with Mille and he feels guilty about loving Kate and lying to Mille but it's too constrained a scene. I'm sorry, but I just didn't buy it and it really didn't move me that much.