# The House of Mirth (2000 film)
*The House of Mirth* is a 2000 period drama film directed and written by Terence Davies, adapted from [Edith Wharton](https://www.edgepedia.org/edith-wharton)'s 1905 novel of the same title. It stars [Gillian Anderson](https://www.edgepedia.org/gillian-anderson) as Lily Bart, a New York society beauty of the 1890s who needs to marry wealth to keep her place in the world, and who is drawn into a downward spiral when her honor and her love for the lawyer Lawrence Selden ([Eric Stoltz](https://www.edgepedia.org/eric-stoltz)) prevent her from accepting the advances of a wealthy banker.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-film-releases/house-mirth) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61360)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Terence Davies, adapting Edith Wharton's novel *The House of Mirth* (New York, 1905)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61360) |
| Lead cast | Gillian Anderson as Lily Bart; Eric Stoltz as Lawrence Selden; Dan Aykroyd as Gus Trenor; Laura Linney as Bertha Dorset; Eleanor Bron as Mrs. Peniston; Anthony LaPaglia as Sim Rosedale[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61360) • [3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-house-of-mirth-2000) |
| Production | Shot in Glasgow, Scotland, on a budget of $8.2 million, in June and July 1999 during Anderson's summer hiatus from *The X-Files*[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-23-ca-3678-story.html) |
| Release | New York Film Festival screening 23 September 2000; Los Angeles and New York openings 22 December 2000; distributed by Sony Pictures Classics[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61360) |
| Running time | 140 minutes; produced by Three Rivers Productions, Granada Film Limited, and Showtime[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61360) |
| Reception | 82% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 102 reviews; Metascore 78 on Metacritic[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/house_of_mirth) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-house-of-mirth/critic-reviews/) |
| Adaptation history | Third screen version of the novel, after a 1918 silent film and a 1981 television movie starring Geraldine Chaplin[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-23-ca-3678-story.html) |
## Spoilers
### Story and setting
The film follows Lily Bart, a bright and popular socialite with a weakness for luxury who subsists on a small allowance from her wealthy aunt and needs to attract a lucrative marital match to keep the comfort she is accustomed to.[7](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-the-house-of-mirth-2001-online) Her upbringing has equipped her for no trade except matrimony, as Roger Ebert observed in his review, and even Selden remarks that marriage is her vocation.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-house-of-mirth-2000) Her efforts to meet social expectations cost her the opportunity for genuine love with Selden, and her search ends in disgrace after a false accusation that she was involved with a married man leaves her abandoned by both high society and her friends.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/house_of_mirth) The British Board of Film Classification synopsis places the story among New York City's high society of the 1890s, where Lily struggles to find financial security and social standing.[8](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/house-of-mirth-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmtu1njy)
Richard Brody, writing in *The New Yorker*, described Davies's adaptation as bringing to life the book's "societal X-rays," the unspoken rules and silent judgments governing fin-de-siècle New York high society, especially those limiting women's independence.[9](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-house-of-mirth)
## Production
Davies cast Gillian Anderson, then known as Agent Scully on *The X-Files*, after seeing her photograph. He had been looking at portraits by [John Singer Sargent](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-singer-sargent), the painter of the belle epoque, and recalled thinking on seeing her picture, "That's a Singer Sargent face!"[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-23-ca-3678-story.html) The shoot took place in Glasgow in June and July 1999, on an $8.2 million budget, timed to Anderson's summer break from the television series.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-23-ca-3678-story.html)
The production credits Remi Adefarasin as director of photography, Michael Parker as editor, Don Taylor as production designer, and Adrian Johnston as composer, with Olivia Stewart producing.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61360) With this film Davies stepped away from the deeply personal, semi-autobiographical themes of his early work, drawing on painterly influences from Whistler to Vermeer.[7](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-the-house-of-mirth-2001-online)
## Style and music
**Sound design over score.** Compared with Davies's earlier films, which layered dense collages of popular song and classical music over the action, *The House of Mirth* radically cuts the ration of music, so that viewers become acutely aware of ticking clocks, closing doors, and the lighting of cigarettes; the [Sight and Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/sight-and-sound) essay compares the resulting hushed sound world to that of Bresson, Rohmer, and [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman)'s *Cries and Whispers*.[10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/house-mirth-wharton-adaptation-that-rivals-scorseses) A recurring musical theme is provided by Alessandro Marcello's Oboe Concerto in [D minor](https://www.edgepedia.org/d-minor),[11](https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/5294718/Figuring_the_Past_AUP_REPOSITORY.pdf) and the classical palette also includes Mozart, Haydn, and Borodin.[12](https://www.on-magazine.co.uk/arts/film-reviews/house-of-mirth-bfi/)
## Reception
The film opened to strong reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 82% Tomatometer from 102 reviews and a 72% audience score, with the critics' consensus noting that the depiction of social cruelty "still feels chilling and relevant for today."[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/house_of_mirth) Metacritic records a Metascore of 78, generally favorable, with 26 of 30 listed critic reviews positive.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-house-of-mirth/critic-reviews/) Rolling Stone's Peter Travers wrote that the film "is not one of those teacup and doily movies; it's harsh and disturbing," and [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly)'s Lisa Schwarzbaum called it "one of the very best of the year."[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-house-of-mirth/critic-reviews/) Ebert compared it with Martin Scorsese's *The Age of Innocence*, noting that where that novel is Jamesian, *The House of Mirth* is closer to Dreiser, an upper-class story in which a woman's life is defined by economic determinism.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-house-of-mirth-2000)
Despite the strong reviews, with one major entertainment magazine listing it among its top two films of 2000, the film failed to acquire the art-house buzz or mainstream commercial success needed for viable Oscar consideration, as the academic journal Scope observed in a later DVD-era review.[13](https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2002/august-2002/film-rev-aug-2002.pdf) The BFI has called it an exemplary literary adaptation that "deserves to be regarded as one of the best British features of its era," and notes that the film was BAFTA-nominated.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-film-releases/house-mirth)
## Later re-release
The BFI remastered the film for a 25th-anniversary re-release, with UK and Ireland cinema screenings from 24 October 2025 and a Blu-ray with a new 2K scan on 24 November 2025, as part of the BFI's celebration of Terence Davies's career; special features include archive interviews and deleted scenes.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-film-releases/house-mirth) • [12](https://www.on-magazine.co.uk/arts/film-reviews/house-of-mirth-bfi/) In the United States the film streams on [Paramount+](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount) and fuboTV.[14](https://whichott.com/us/movie/the-house-of-mirth-2000-25520)
## References
1. [The House of Mirth, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-film-releases/house-mirth)
2. [The House of Mirth (2000), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/61360)
3. [The House of Mirth, review by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (22 December 2000)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-house-of-mirth-2000)
4. [Moment of Truth, Los Angeles Times (23 December 2000)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-23-ca-3678-story.html)
5. [The House of Mirth, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/house_of_mirth)
6. [The House of Mirth critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-house-of-mirth/critic-reviews/)
7. [Watch The House of Mirth online, BFI Player](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-the-house-of-mirth-2001-online)
8. [House Of Mirth, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/house-of-mirth-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmtu1njy)
9. [The House of Mirth, by Richard Brody, The New Yorker (18 November 2022)](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-house-of-mirth)
10. [The House of Mirth: a stirring adaptation, Sight and Sound](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/house-mirth-wharton-adaptation-that-rivals-scorseses)
11. [Figuring the Past, King's College London Research Portal](https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/5294718/Figuring_the_Past_AUP_REPOSITORY.pdf)
12. [House of Mirth (2000) – Film Review, On: Yorkshire Magazine](https://www.on-magazine.co.uk/arts/film-reviews/house-of-mirth-bfi/)
13. [The House of Mirth review by Kenneth R. Morefield, Scope (August 2002)](https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2002/august-2002/film-rev-aug-2002.pdf)
14. [Where to watch The House of Mirth (2000) in United States, WhichOTT](https://whichott.com/us/movie/the-house-of-mirth-2000-25520)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media › Films based on novels, novellas, and short fiction › Films based on early 20th-century literature*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license