The Heiress (1949)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Heiress (1949) – W. Wyler

Adapted from Henry James’ Washington Square (1880, but set in the 1840s) for the stage and subsequently this film, directed by William Wyler.  Olivia de Havilland plays Catherine Sloper, an awkward young woman who has inherited money from her deceased mother and is due to come into a large fortune from her father, a doctor played by Ralph Richardson.  Given her shyness and poor social graces (undoubtedly a product of her father’s glorification of her mother and disdain for her in comparison), she has had no suitors...until Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift) appears to sweep her off her feet (aided and abetted by her widowed aunt played by Miriam Hopkins).  Unfortunately, despite his charm and good looks, he has squandered whatever small inheritance he once had and thus garners the doctor’s displeasure.  Indeed, Dr Sloper quickly surmises that Townsend is nothing more than a fortune hunter, seeking his daughter’s hand only because of her money.  However, whether it is the screenplay, Wyler’s direction or the acting by de Havilland (Best Actress), Richardson, and Clift (the latter with a jarring accent and method technique), we spend much of the film balanced on the edge of the proverbial knife, not knowing for sure whether Townsend really does love Catherine (as she so dearly wishes) or whether he is indeed mercenary (it is very easy to suspect the latter – but he is very charming).  Aaron Copland’s Oscar-winning score (perhaps tinkered with by the production team) is strange – both minimalist and heavily accented by swelling strings – its intrusiveness actually enhanced the picture.  As things play out, we remain on Catherine’s side, wanting and yearning for her to have things work out as they should – and of course, in the end, they finally do.  In the end, that’s satisfying but it is the tension derived from the ambiguity surrounding Morris’s love and the difficulty of knowing whether to choose truth or deception (when either one or the other might actually prove more beneficial for Catherine) that really elevates the film to something special.