My Favorite Scorsese Movie Of The 90s Is Leaving Netflix At The End Of September, So Catch It Before It's Gone!

If the question is, what's your favorite Scorsese movie of the ‘90s, then the obvious answer is, “Goodfellas!” But that's not my favorite Scorsese movie of the decade, because my answer would be, “The Age of Innocence!”

Who picks ‘93's The Age of Innocence as one of their favorite Scorsese movies? Well, the same person who would put Silence in his top 5, thinks Casino is better than Goodfellas (it is!), and who believes the ‘80s is Scorsese's best decade, that's who!

The Age of Innocence is one of Scorsese's best movies that people rarely talk about, and you can watch it with a Netflix subscription. That said, it leaves the streaming service on September 30th. So, here's why you should catch it before it's gone!

Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence Does A Great Job Of Adapting An Excellent Novel

Have you ever heard the idiom, “Keeping up with the Joneses”? It basically means that people will buy expensive stuff to exude a higher social status, and that other people will do the same so that they don’t look poor in comparison. Well, the “the Joneses” were an actual New York family. In fact, it was Edith Wharton’s – the author of The Age of Innocence – family. So yeah, before she was a Wharton, she was Edith Jones.

I bring all this up since the novel toys with the idea of trying to uphold a social status, and actually bucking that trend (or at least wanting to). The title, you might not know, is actually sardonic in that the Gilded Age (No, not that The Gilded Age. The actual time period) wasn’t an “age of innocence” at all, but rather, society pretended that it was. Deep stuff, and the great thing about the Scorsese adaptation is that it captures all of this, which couldn’t have been easy.

The story mostly focuses on three characters, Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), May Welland (Winona Ryder), and Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer). Archer is a prominent lawyer, and he wants to marry into Welland’s family to improve his status. All seems auspicious at first, until he meets May’s cousin, Countess Olenska, who is not only getting a divorce, but actually slept with her cheating husband’s (male) secretary out of revenge.

This is a big no-no in their society (it’s scandalous!), and Archer feels sympathy for Olenska at first, but then lust, even despite marrying May. And, in that way, the book and movie go hand-in-hand, making this one of the best movies based on classic literature ever!

Daniel Day-Lewis Is A Fantastic Newland Archer, Of Course

No surprise here, but Daniel Day-Lewis is phenomenal in The Age of Innocence (I’m especially looking forward to seeing his return to acting in Anemone). Newland Archer is a complex role since we feel a number of things about his character, and DDL captures all of those emotions.

For example, at the start of the film, we understand why Archer wants to marry May (it’s for status), but we also get a sense that he’s a modern gentleman. And we feel this way because he’s upset that Countess Olenska’s husband could cheat on her, but she can’t cheat on him without being ostracized. We also understand that he feels like society’s norms aren’t all what they’re cracked up to be, once he regrets marrying May after he falls in love with the Countess, who wants to get a divorce.

Daniel Day-Lewis plays Archer as both sympathetic and selfish. He finds his new wife, May, to be boring, and is willing to have an affair with her cousin once he realizes (what he feels is) the error of his ways in marrying May. Wharton did such a good job of creating his character that we actually want him to leave May because we know it will ultimately make him happy, and Daniel Day-Lewis does an excellent job of capturing that character, making us feel bad for everybody involved.

And, by the end of the film (which I won’t spoil for you), you still feel bad for him, which could have been hard to capture on film if DDL wasn’t up for the challenge, which of course he was.

Michelle Pfeiffer Steals This Movie As Countess Olenska

Speaking of challenging performances, Michelle Pfeiffer steals this movie from all of the other actors (and that’s saying something when it costars Daniel Day-Lewis). In the book, we get a sense that Countess Olenska is a character out of time. She sees the modern standards, but doesn’t see why she needs to follow them. Her family tries to get her to stay in her marriage since it would look bad for everyone if she got divorced, but she’s all like, I don’t care. It’s my life, and I want to be happy.

And, if anybody can play, “It’s my life, and I want to be happy,” it’s Michelle Pfeiffer. She shows no remorse for her actions, and if anything, merely shows restraint. Because even though her character loves Newland, she won’t consummate the relationship because she doesn’t want to hurt her cousin. Pfeiffer could have played this role a lot of different ways (She could have vamped it up, or been more seductive), but that’s not what she’s like in the book, so that’s not what she’s like here.

She’s a free spirit who knows her boundaries. She’s educated, but makes decisions that are only going to hurt her in the long run. And, I think a lot of this goes to Pfeiffer being able to play both a romantic interest and somebody who is entirely unobtainable, due to society’s norms.

The Age of Innocence probably wouldn’t be my favorite Scorsese movie of the ‘90s if not for the excellent acting of Daniel Day-Lewis and especially of Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s exceptional.

It's Also Probably My Favorite Period Piece Of Scorsese's As It Nails The Era

When ranking Scorsese’s best films, a lot of people would likely put 2002’s Gangs of New York on that list, and look, I get it. Gangs of New York is a great movie, and the way Scorsese captured the Five Points was really quite something to see.

That said, while I like his recreation of 1862 New York, I much prefer his interpretation of 1870s New York. That's only because I’d rather see high society than the slums (Which just goes to show how talented Daniel Day-Lewis is, since he could portray somebody from both ends of the spectrum).

I like seeing lavish paintings of families, women dancing in ball gowns, and people living with unfettered privilege. I like tall staircases and horse-drawn carriages. In other words, I love being transported to old-time New York, but not the seedy underbelly side. No, I just want to see high society (Not what’s being hidden by high society), and I think Scorsese did a better job doing this with The Age of Innocence than any other movie of his.

Because every time I watch it, I truly feel like I’m an outsider looking in and seeing all of high society’s scruples, which I think was Wharton’s intention when she wrote the book in the first place.

In that way, similar to Scorsese’s own After Hours, I think The Age of Innocence is the director’s overlooked masterpiece, so watch it on Netflix while you still can!