Washington Square

Washington Square is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Ben Chaplin, Maggie Smith and Judith Ivey. The screenplay by Carol Doyle is based on Henry James' novel of the same name, which was filmed as The Heiress in 1949. The film was a critical success, but a commercial failure. Plot Dr. Austin Sloper is a doctor and resident of a large house on New York's Washington Square. His wife dies in childbirth, leaving a daughter, Catherine, to be raised by her father. As a child, Catherine is overweight, clumsy, and untalented; however, she is also a sweet, affectionate child. She adores her father and tries hard to please him, but he considers her a disappointment and treats her with ironic condescension. His thoughts are still much occupied with his beloved wife and with a promising son who died before Catherine was born, and he privately – but bitterly – resents his only surviving child for causing his wife's death. Now the 1850s, Sloper invites Catherine's widowed aunt, the incurably foolish Lavinia Penniman, to live at Washington Square as a chaperone for Catherine. Catherine becomes a plain young woman who is painfully shy and inept in the social graces expected of someone of her class, despite her aunt's best efforts to instill them. Apart from her sweet nature, Catherine possesses only one obvious attraction: wealth. She earns $10,000 annually from her mother's estate, and will inherit considerably more when her father dies. At a party celebrating her cousin Marian Almond's engagement, Catherine is introduced to a handsome, charming young man named Morris Townsend. He is attentive, respectful, and – to Catherine's obvious astonishment – clearly interested in her. He begins paying regular calls at Washington Square. Before long, the susceptible Catherine falls headlong in love with him. Sloper, however, suspects Townsend of being a fortune hunter, with no intention of pursuing a career. Aunt Lavinia loves melodrama and gets a vicarious thrill from Townsend's attentions; and so, contrary to Sloper's wishes, she does all she can to encourage the relationship, even meeting Townsend secretly to collude with him.