The Wings of the Dove

(Miramax)

Although not as freewheeling as Jane Campion in The Portrait of a Lady, Iain Softley cuts through Henry James's exquisite convolutions and ambiguities to the bare essentials of this tale of love, mortality, and the many shades of betrayal while at same time filling the screen with lush sets, costumes, and cinematography as dense as the author's prose. With Helena Bonham Carter in her Oscar-nominated role as Kate Croy, plus Linus Roache and Alison Elliott.