# The Wings of the Dove (1997 film)
*The Wings of the Dove* is a 1997 period drama directed by Iain Softley, written by Hossein Amini from [Henry James](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-james)'s 1902 novel of the same name, and starring [Helena Bonham Carter](https://www.edgepedia.org/helena-bonham-carter), Linus Roache, and Alison Elliott. It follows Kate Croy, a poor young Englishwoman who secretly loves a penniless journalist and schemes to have her wealthy, dying American friend fall in love with him so that his inheritance will make the match acceptable to her family.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65153-THE-WINGSOFTHEDOVE?cp=1&pos=4&sid=fc57f3a5-0808-499f-9458-6b4cd83189ae&sr=0.024159778) • [2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wings-of-the-dove-1997)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source | Adaptation of Henry James's novel *The Wings of the Dove* (1902); screenplay by Hossein Amini[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65153-THE-WINGSOFTHEDOVE?cp=1&pos=4&sid=fc57f3a5-0808-499f-9458-6b4cd83189ae&sr=0.024159778) |
| Director and cast | Directed by Iain Softley; Helena Bonham Carter as Kate Croy, Linus Roache as Merton Densher, Alison Elliott as Millie Theale, Charlotte Rampling as Aunt Maude, Alex Jennings as Lord Mark, Michael Gambon as Kate's father[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65153-THE-WINGSOFTHEDOVE?cp=1&pos=4&sid=fc57f3a5-0808-499f-9458-6b4cd83189ae&sr=0.024159778) |
| Release | United States, November 7, 1997; United Kingdom, January 2, 1998; distributed by Miramax Films[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65153-THE-WINGSOFTHEDOVE?cp=1&pos=4&sid=fc57f3a5-0808-499f-9458-6b4cd83189ae&sr=0.024159778) • [3](https://www.movienco.co.uk/films/the-wings-of-the-dove/) |
| Format | 102 minutes, color, rated R for sexuality[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Wings-of-the-Dove-The) |
| Box office | $14,196,971 domestic gross against a $15 million budget financed by Miramax[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Wings-of-the-Dove-The) • [5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-02-ca-49355-story.html) |
| Awards | Four Academy Award nominations for 1998 (Best Cinematography, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design) and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama; no wins[6](https://www.miramax.com/movie/wings-of-the-dove/) |
| Critical scores | Metascore 73 from 18 reviews; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 85% from 34 reviews; IMDb user rating 7.1/10 from about 12,000 votes[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120520/criticreviews/) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wings_of_the_dove) |
## Spoilers
### Story
Kate Croy is caught between two lives. Her mother is dead, her father is an opium-addicted drunkard, and her wealthy Aunt Maude has taken her in on the condition that she marry into money, which rules out Merton Densher, the journalist she is secretly betrothed to.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wings-of-the-dove-1997) • [9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/188765/the-wings-of-the-dove) Kate befriends Millie Theale, a young American heiress traveling through Europe who is terminally ill and concealing how bad her health is. When Millie falls in love with Merton, Kate sees a way to keep both love and wealth: encourage the two to marry, wait for Millie's death, and then marry a newly rich Merton herself.[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/188765/the-wings-of-the-dove)
The plan is set in motion in Venice, where the three are on a pleasure trip and Merton is let into the secret.[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/188765/the-wings-of-the-dove) Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times*, described the story as cold-blooded but complicated by genuine affection: the two lovers really like the rich girl, she likes them, and everyone eventually comes to know more or less precisely what is being done.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wings-of-the-dove-1997)
## Adaptation from the novel
**Two deliberate changes** separate the film from James's text. The action is moved forward from 1902 to 1910, and Kate is made more sympathetic than her counterpart in the book, whose actions the film reframes as something close to pragmatism rather than selfishness.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wings-of-the-dove-1997) Amini pitched the project to collaborators as film noir, saying the difference was that the characters do not literally kill each other but instead break the other girl's heart and kill her that way.[10](https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/1218-the-wings-of-the-dove-classic-henry-james-as-film-noir/)
The adaptation also makes explicit what the novel only suggests. A 2025 academic study of the film argues that the screenplay shows sex scenes at key plot points where James's book offers only insinuation, a process it calls explicitation, and that this turns the adaptation into a more sentimental and moralistic narrative than the polysemous original.[11](https://periodicos.ufsm.br/letras/article/download/89980/68230/467711) The film condenses a novel of around 500 pages into roughly 100 minutes of screen time.[11](https://periodicos.ufsm.br/letras/article/download/89980/68230/467711)
James began writing the novel in 1894 and said in his preface that he had originally planned it as the story of a sick young woman whose disintegration would be carefully detailed; the character of Millie was partly based on the illness and death of his cousin Minny Temple.[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/188765/the-wings-of-the-dove)
## Production
Softley's previous pictures were *Backbeat* (1994) and *Hackers* (1995), and producer Stephen Evans of Renaissance Films, who had a passion for the book, drew him to the project. Softley initially thought the novel user-unfriendly for adaptation, but he and Amini, who had previously scripted the film version of [Thomas Hardy](https://www.edgepedia.org/thomas-hardy)'s *Jude the Obscure*, found they wanted to make the same kind of film.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-02-ca-49355-story.html) The $15 million production was financed by Miramax.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-02-ca-49355-story.html)
The crew included cinematographer Eduardo Serra, editor Tariq Anwar, production designer John Beard, and composer Edward Shearmur.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65153-THE-WINGSOFTHEDOVE?cp=1&pos=4&sid=fc57f3a5-0808-499f-9458-6b4cd83189ae&sr=0.024159778) Reviewers repeatedly singled out the visuals: Kenneth Turan of the *Los Angeles Times* called the film richly appointed and beautifully mounted, with lush location shooting in Venice given the place of honor, and David Sterritt of the *Christian Science Monitor* noted Serra's widescreen camerawork capturing the streets and interiors of London and a rain-swept Venice.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120520/criticreviews/) • [12](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/the-wings-of-the-dove-1997/critic-reviews/)
## Reception
The film opened in the United States on November 7, 1997 in 7 theaters, grossing $183,610 on its opening weekend before expanding to a maximum of 704 theaters; its domestic gross of $14,196,971 came entirely from the United States market.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Wings-of-the-Dove-The)
Critics were broadly positive. The film holds a Metascore of 73 based on 18 reviews and an 85% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus describes it as patiently exploring class divisions in early 20th century Europe through the travails of star-crossed lovers.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120520/criticreviews/) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wings_of_the_dove) Ebert gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, writing that the film is acted with great tenderness and praising the way smart people try to figure one another out.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wings-of-the-dove-1997) Stephen Holden of *The New York Times* wrote that few films have explored the human face so searchingly, crediting the film with succeeding where virtually every other film translation of a James novel had stumbled.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120520/criticreviews/) Dissent came from [Alex Ross](https://www.edgepedia.org/alex-ross) in *Slate*, who called the movie a modern facsimile of the potboilers James transfigured.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120520/criticreviews/)
## Awards and context
At the 1998 Academy Awards the film received four nominations, for Best Cinematography, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Bonham Carter, Best Adapted Screenplay for Amini, and Best Costume Design, and won none; Bonham Carter was also nominated for Best Actress in a Drama at the 1998 Golden Globes.[6](https://www.miramax.com/movie/wings-of-the-dove/)
The film arrived during a concentrated wave of Henry James adaptations: [Jane Campion](https://www.edgepedia.org/jane-campion)'s *The Portrait of a Lady* appeared in 1996 and 1997, [Agnieszka Holland](https://www.edgepedia.org/agnieszka-holland)'s *Washington Square* in 1997, and Merchant Ivory's *The Golden Bowl* in 2000. David Sterritt, writing for [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies), judged *The Wings of the Dove* the best of that group.[9](https://www.tcm.com/articles/188765/the-wings-of-the-dove)
## References
1. [The Wings of the Dove (1997), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65153-THE-WINGSOFTHEDOVE?cp=1&pos=4&sid=fc57f3a5-0808-499f-9458-6b4cd83189ae&sr=0.024159778)
2. [Wings Of the Dove, review by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, November 14, 1997](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wings-of-the-dove-1997)
3. [The Wings of the Dove, Film Movie'n'co](https://www.movienco.co.uk/films/the-wings-of-the-dove/)
4. [The Wings of the Dove (1997), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Wings-of-the-Dove-The)
5. [From 'Hackers' to Highbrow, Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1997](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-02-ca-49355-story.html)
6. [Wings Of The Dove, Official Site, Miramax](https://www.miramax.com/movie/wings-of-the-dove/)
7. [The Wings of the Dove (1997), Metacritic reviews via IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120520/criticreviews/)
8. [The Wings of the Dove, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wings_of_the_dove)
9. [The Wings of the Dove, by David Sterritt, Turner Classic Movies, December 5, 2007](https://www.tcm.com/articles/188765/the-wings-of-the-dove)
10. [The Wings of the Dove: Classic Henry James as film noir, by Tom Shone, Library of America, December 20, 2016](https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/1218-the-wings-of-the-dove-classic-henry-james-as-film-noir/)
11. [Sex as a moralistic turn in the film adaptation of The Wings of the Dove, by Cynthia Beatrice Costa, Letras, v. 71, 2025](https://periodicos.ufsm.br/letras/article/download/89980/68230/467711)
12. [The Wings of the Dove (1997) Critic Reviews, Cinafilm](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/the-wings-of-the-dove-1997/critic-reviews/)
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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*
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