The Age of Innocence1993

Scorsese-a-thon "Do you know—I hardly remembered you." "Hardly remembered me?" "I mean: how shall I explain? I—it's always so. Each time you happen to me all over again.” If you were to ask me, if I didn’t know, I would never guess that this was a Martin Scorsese picture. This feels in so many ways completely new and disparate from everything that came before. Scorsese, a man who made his whole career on gritty, realistic, somewhat cynical films about toxic men and victims of the system, here tells one of the most beautiful, simple, and surprisingly relatable romantic tragedies I’ve seen.  A film about a time and world that is completely foreign to modern audiences, and he makes it with complete understanding and conveys that understanding to us. From the very beginning, we see a society that desires to live in the paintings that adorn their stately mansion homes, and we see the few that yearn to live apart from it. Trapped in so many ways. Art and beauty are the byword of this film, and every frame glistens with a visual poetry. It is like a platter of culinary delights that one must consume and enjoy, and by that consumption, there is comprehension.  There is no satisfaction. No happy ending. Just a good life. Maybe you didn’t do what you wanted. Maybe you didn’t get what you wanted. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe what you had is good enough. Maybe. Maybe the question is better than the answer.  It is hard to say if this is my favorite Scorsese because it is so different. But also, I feel necessary. I don’t know what this means for his next films, but after this, I am incredibly excited.