Word: agnieszka
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Jennifer Jason Leigh is perfectly cast in Agnieszka Holland's adaptation of Henry James's novel. An awkward young woman starved for affection is caught between a cynical, distant father and a spirited but selfish young suitor. Holland's camera work and sense of period is engaging throughout, and her trademark comic acuity leavens the somber arc of the story. Eventually, though, Leigh asserts herself just long enough to break your heart. Like its heroine, the film misses true magnificence, but its intelligent cast and sensitive storytelling are more than enough to recommend...
...hard to say what went wrong. Possibly the director, Agnieszka Holland, was simply overwhelmed by these very potent performers, unable to discipline their work. Possibly the fact that English is her second language (she is Polish and the creator of the very powerful Europa Europa) rendered her impervious to, or nervous about, Jamesian nuance...
William Wyler, the auteur behind The Heiress, was one of Hollywood's most notoriously tyrannical directors, and the revenge drama he cooked out of James' original recipe essentially reflected his own fascination with power and retribution. What immediately distinguishes Agnieszka Holland's new version of Washington Square, then, is its remarkable synergy of subject and storytellers...
...looking for Europa, Europa II, folks. Filmmaker Agnieszka Holland is about the last person on the planet who would ever make a sequel. "I'd never do two movies that looked alike," swears the Polish-born writer-director, recently in town to discuss her new adaptation of Henry James's Washington Square...
...tell." The next story she has to tell may carry Holland as far afield as Canada, Poland, India, and France--"except," she chuckles, "I don't have the money." No telling what kind of story could bridge all of these locales, but no one has ever said that Agnieszka Holland isn't ambitious