Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome (1993)

This is a classic Edith Wharton melodrama, a hyper-romantic short novel that has turned on and turned off many high schoolers and literature majors over the years. It's a great story and it's hard to go totally wrong with it, but it's an old fashioned story, and more slow and steady than filled with amazing or surprising turns and emotional insights.

Another way to put it is: it isn't a Bronte novel.

So a movie version of Ethan Frome has to find some way of pulling us in very deeply, through characterization, through ambiance, through an attention so small things that make the main plot take on resonance. None of that quite happens here.

The photography makes clear from the first scenes that it is very careful, which isn't a bad thing. The whole film has a steady, beautiful, somewhat constrained quality, using lots of available light. We watch the title character, played by Liam Neeson, with a growing sense of calm partly because of the camera. When we discover the relationship between Frome and his wife, and then with his wife's relative who has come to "help" them with chores, it is always bordering on stiff. I think this is meant to imply a formality to life at the turn of the century (the book was written in 1911 and set a few years earlier). But to my mind people were not so poised, or afraid, or following puritanical strictures as all that.

At any rate, the move ends up weirdly flat as a result. We know the events are romantically intense, but we don't get swept away by them. It's surprising no movie version has been attempted before this one. And it will be surprising if another is tried, hopefully with more effect. This isn't at all bad, nothing glaring here, but being "not bad" isn't quite the idea in the end.

I watched this movie yesterday night. It made me cry! Then I dreamed of it at night, and when I woke up I still had a melancholy feeling in my stomach and a sweet pain in my heart. Very few movies or novels affect me this strongly nowadays!

The depiction is bleak but romantic, tender, and very, very fine. The actors are all very good in their parts. This is one of those love stories that make you take the side of the adulterous couple, however much you are against such behaviour in ordinary cases. Mutual love can be so hard to find, and when you find it but cannot have it because of circumstances in the world around, you "never want to leave this hill"...

I felt that Ethan Frome was EXTREMELY well acted by all; however, this bleak, depressing drama was very slow moving and lacked intensity which I think would have added to the romantic plot. More development between the characters in the love triangle would have been effective. Costumes, scenery and characters were all very authentic. Just wish it could have been more of an emotional picture.

When Richard Nelson set out to adapt Edith Wharton's classic novel Ethan Frome to the silver screen, he could have never imaged that he would surpass the novel in quality. Marvelous casting and cinematography, as well as a befitting musical score by Rachel Portman, create the perfect audio/visual setting for an American classic.

Ethan Frome is the story of a man broken by his illicit love for his wife's housekeeper cousin. Starting from the present, the story flashes back to many years earlier before the accident that crippled Ethan. His wife Zeena becomes sick and sends for her cousin Mattie to take care of her. Ethan and Mattie fall deeply in love while Zeena becomes sicker and sicker.

While staying largely true to the novel, Richard Nelson makes changes to the story that perhaps Edith Wharton should have considered when writing her tragedy. The identity of the character investigating into Ethan's past has been altered from an engineer to a preacher, a more sensible profession in the context of the story. The depth of Ethan's relationship with Mattie also goes much deeper then in the novel. While perhaps this change could be criticized, it works better for the modern audience in understanding events to come. One of these events, an attempted suicide by Ethan's lover Mattie, was absent from the book yet again helps the viewing audience to feel the intense emotions of the movie. Well-chosen deletions from the book also help pacing while not infringing on its essence.

Perhaps the greatest attribute of "Ethan Frome" is its high-quality acting. Liam Neeson, staring as Ethan Frome, delivers an astounding performance. Perfecting both his character's physical ailment and emotional turmoil, he communicates the part as though it was written for him. Patricia Arquette equalizes Neeson's performance as Ethan's forbidden love Mattie Silver. There are several scenes in which dialogue is not needed to understand what Arquette's character is feeling. Lastly, Joan Allen does a phenomenal job in portraying Ethan's sickly wife Zeena. Though not as antagonistic as in the novel, she none-the-less conveys a meaningful performance.

What gives the movie version of Ethan Frome the edge over its book counterpart is the visual experience and the haunting soundtrack. The camera truly captures the melancholy of the land. There is not a moment in which the atmosphere of the setting does not match the emotional performance of the actors. Rachel Portman also composes a recurrent theme that portrays the spirit of the novel. The music, along with the camera work, help to set the kind of mood that words cannot in this instance. "Ethan Frome" wonderfully tells the story that Edith Wharton meant to in her novel. Outstanding acting and beautiful camera work make "Ethan Frome" a deeply moving film. Those who read the book will be mystified by the superiority of the movie over the novel. Those just interested in a heartfelt tale of forbidden love will not be disappointed either. Though it runs just over an hour-and-a-half, it is paced well and does not rush. As a whole, "Ethan Frome" is highly recommended.

This is one of the more enjoyable novels I have read in high school and I think this film adaptation fits the book very well. It is about the life of husband Ethan Frome (Liam Leeson) and his disabled wife, Zeena Frome (Joan Allen). They hire a young woman, Mattie Silver (Patricia Arquette), to help tend to household needs and, as time passes, she and Ethan fall in love.

I've found this movie to be quite enjoyable and engaging, as its drama and plot are enthralling and beautifully depicted. The plot does flow well as the movie is faithfully executed in accordance with the novel and the acting is quite astounding for the most part. The characters especially the three leads are sympathetic and phenomenal - you feel the suffering Zeena's illness is causing her and the complexity surrounding the forbidden love of Ethan and Mattie. The simplicity of the Victorian town the movie is set in and the snowy weather give the story a solemn atmosphere.

If you have read the novel before watching this film, you will still feel intrigued by the plot and find the course of the events suspenseful, wondering how everything will play out at the end. It's a good piece of movie drama that is a must-see.

Grade B+