MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Christopher Culver
The 1993 British-American television production ETHAN FROME is an adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1911 novel about star-crossed lovers in late 19th-century Massachusetts. Though Wharton was a wealthy New York socialite, she had glimpses of New England village life, and it was the harsh winters, dire poverty and cruel gossip of this region that she sought to portray. The eponymous character (played by Liam Neeson) is a young farmer in the fictional Massachusetts community of Starkfield, whose dreams of making something of himself are dashed by the early death of his parents and then his marriage to the sickly Zenobia "Zeena" Frome (Joan Allen). When Zeena's cousin beautiful cousin Mattie Silver (Patricia Arquette) comes to help out in the house, Ethan's heart is thawed, but ultimately the uncompromising conditions of Starkfield life bring Ethan and Mattie to a tragedy.The plot of a pair of star-crossed lovers is rather overdone, but ETHAN FROME is interesting in its depiction of a Massachusetts village in the late 19th century, complete with characters speaking in dialect and a description of country farmhouses. This adaptation does a decent job of presenting those strengths of the novel. It also offers an improvement on the novel in that it tweaks Wharton's risible climax -- Ethan and Mattie deciding to escape this cruel world by sledding down a hill into a big elm tree, the stupidest means of suicide in all of literature -- to be more believable.The adaption is flawed, however, by a number of factors. One is the decision to change the framing story of Wharton's novel. In the book, the visitor to Starkfield who spurs the flashback is an engineer who wonders why Frome is so taciturn. In this film, however, the visitor is the town's new preacher, just out of seminary, who protests against Frome being shunned by the town. Wharton's portrayal of a man who walls himself off by the world after multiple tragedies is replaced, then, by an element completely unknown to the novel: the castigation of the villagers as ignoring basic Christian charity. This has consequences for the ending, which is much less powerful than the novel. Another unwelcome change is that Ethan and Mattie sleep together, while in Wharton's novel the characters seem incapable under their dire circumstances of having even a physical relationship. Also, Liam Neeson offers some of the best acting in the film, but he's 10 years too old to play this role.I first saw this film when it was shown on PBS nearly two decades ago, and it works well enough as passive entertainment on television, but this is a second-rate affair in many ways and I cannot recommend getting the DVD.
Celeste Newbrough
Very good adaptation of a classic book. The characters in the novel: Zeena, Maggie and Ethan, are etched on to full screen very much as they appear in Edith Wharton's novel. The despair of poverty and isolation is poignant in this starkly beautiful film. The most intriguing aspects of the film center on Ethan's wife, Zeena, even though she is not a co-protagonist. Patricia Arquette is riveting as a girl of personality and looks who nevertheless has no options in life. Perfect casting, acting and dialogue. Gives you an intense, visual sense of the time and place. Suspense emerges from character. The end is truly a surprise though a surprise ending was not necessary. This is a memorable film.
rsubber
Based on the novel, Ethan Frome (1911), by Edith Wharton.I watched the movie, then I read the book, then I watched the movie again (and again), it's easier than reading the book again, but I'm going to do that too. For my taste, the book and the movie are interchangeable. Knowing the ending doesn't reduce the dreadful intensity of this story that gets ever more sad from beginning to end. The love story breaks through the arid shell of real life—oh, so briefly…Ethan (Neeson) wants more, Mattie (Arquette) wants more, the viewer wants more… Every other character in the story seems to, well, not "want" less but be all too righteously satisfied with less. Except for a brief whirl of a dance scene, there are no smiles on the faces of any of the other characters who live dried up lives, and disdain the spark of love and life in Ethan and Mattie. Doubtless, the town folk see a pitiless moral lesson in the damaged life of Ethan Frome and the love he must keep stuffed inside him. I see a man and a woman who share forbidden love, but don't know what to do about it, and grotesquely fail to snuff it out. Read more on my blog: Barley Literate
jolshan
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.
