Having spent most of what she thought were dividends, she found herself under an untenable obligation. Laura Linney is most effective in her insidious malice and slowly but surely uses Lily to save her marriage and status. Trenor to manage investments for her when he was giving her his money will have devastating effects on the relationships and, eventually, her reputation. Thinking of them as her friends, she fails to recognize that an offer from Mr. This high society circle led by power couples Bertha and her long-suffering husband, George Dorset and Gus and Judy Trenor.

The small income from her legacy is not enough to maintain the lifestyle required to play in this world, and Lily has relied on her friends’ generosity. She knows that at 29, she has been around so long that many are now saying unkind things about her, and the slightest missteps can be fatal.

Her life is a series of parties, weddings, and operas. Bryce would mean living a dull, loveless existence. A telling moment is just as she is about to make it to a critical engagement, which could lead to his proposal, she recoils from the window and lets the carriage leave without her-realizing that going now and closing the deal with Mr. Bryce early on but fails to make it to the proposal. Lily has been honing her skills at becoming whatever an available wealthy man wishes her to be for the past 11 years but never making the final commitment. Lily’s only goal in life is to marry a man who will let her enjoy life and never have to worry about money. Peniston, where she lives with a cousin, Grace Stepney. Having been brought up rich as a girl but impoverished and orphaned, Lily was taken in by her aunt, Mrs. A world where perception is as important as reality. A world where no one ever has to work, living only to flaunt their fortunes and gossip about one another. The film is stunning, with many scenes looking like paintings coming to life.īased on 1905’s best-selling novel by Edith Wharton, the title was inspired by a passage from Ecclesiastes 7:4, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” Wharton, herself a member of New York high society, wrote the novel as a critic from the inside the circle. Although shot entirely in Scotland, one never questions being in 1905 New York. He does very well for himself, but he also understands that he cannot possibly offer her the life she was born and trained to have.

Their attraction for one another is palpable, but Selden’s social status is at odds with Lily’s ambition: to marry money, a great deal of money. The movie opens with an impromptu encounter between beautiful socialite Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson) and attorney Lawrence Selden (Eric Stoltz).

The house of mirth review