Product Details

• Actors: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Maggie Smith, Ben Chaplin, Judith Ivey
• Directors: Agnieszka Holland
• Writers: Carol Doyle, Henry James
• Producers: Chrisann Verges, Julie Bergman Sender, Randy Ostrow, Roger Birnbaum
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: April 6, 1999
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304879482
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,085 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In biographies written before 1990, Jennifer Jason Leigh claims to have been born in 1958. Recently, she's changed that to 1962. In either case, she definitely looks a bit odd in this 1998 release playing a 20-year-old opposite the youthful Ben Chaplin. Even stranger is the fact that she's been cast as the ugly girl; after all, she was voted one of America's 10 most beautiful women by Harper's Bazaar. Still, this film captures to a T the Henry James novel on which it is based. The story concerns Catherine Sloper, a 19th-century heiress whose father disapproves of the man she loves. In a twisty plot, questions are raised about both her father's and her suitor's motives, and Catherine must untangle the connections between love and money. This provides fodder for Henry James's critiques of the shallowness and sexism of his society. Some find James's work stiff, self-important, and a bit dull, while others see him as the most astute social critic of his time, so your enjoyment of this film may be a matter of taste. But it's definitely a period piece done right, which is to say that it fully captures its era, and never stoops to anachronisms that would interrupt the viewer's sense of an older, crueler world. --James DiGiovanna

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfectly played by all, staying true to the novel, October 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Washington Square [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As a great fan of Henry James, I much preferred this new film version of his story, rather than "The Heiress," whether that film is considered a classic or not. Other critics on this page have panned the new version, writing that it lacks subtlety, but what is so subtle about Morris bashing on the Slopers' front door and yelling at the top of his lungs, which is what happens in "The Heiress"--and certainly does NOT happen in the novel. For me, Jennifer Jason Leigh more closely captured the clumsiness, social awkwardness, and sensitivity of the novel's main character, more so than Olivia de Havilland's woman of steel out for revenge. The cast of the older film are all fine actors, but the screenplay was the clumsy one there. The cast of the newer Washington Square are all pitch-perfect, as if they had lifted their characters directly from the novel. Maggie Smith is truly amazing in her comic role as the aunt.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it until I read the book, January 30, 2007

By 

SaraphinaR (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Washington Square (DVD)

Honestly, this was one of my favorite films until I read the book, and it brought to light two things that I think the director really messed up on.
1. Catherine Sloper was nowhere near as socially retarded in the book as she was in the movie. In fact, as someone said, in the movie they practically portray her as being borderline mentally challenged. In the books her faults were not as exaggerated, and consisted of her plain looks, dull personality and occasional lack of a witty retort (which happens to all of us save for those annoying few who always have the perfect thing to say). Otherwise I would characterize her, especially in comparison to her flighty aunt and cold-hearted dad, as the only normal one in the house. While everyone else was making the situation with Morris more of a drama than it needed to be, Catherine was taking things as they came and letting them go as they went. She grows from naive girl who adored her callous father to a secure woman.
Also, while in the movie they portrayed her dress sense as evidence of her social ineptitude (the scene where she goes to the party where she meets Morris in that awful fringed thing), in the book it is an admirable eccentricity, and proves that she is not as boring as she seems.
2. While Albert Finney does a great job of capturing Dr. Sloper's callous sarcasm, he doesn't (and again, I think this is the director's fault) really capture the type of psychological game he is playing with his daughter. In the book, Dr. Sloper detachedly views the goings on between his daughter and Morris as a kind of entertainment, a play that he wants to see if he guessed the correct ending to. In return, as Catherine realizes what as asshat her father is (can I say that here?), she begins to play the game with him, telling him when he is near his deathbed that she can't promise she won't marry Morris after he dies (This scene also takes place in the movie, but the way it is acted out you get the sense that Catherine is saying this because she hasn't let Morris go yet - the director hasn't developed the character enough to make the viewer believe she has the intelligence to play her dad's own game).
In terms of praise, the performances by Maggie Smith, Albert Finney and Ben Chaplin are great. To quote another review again, Ben Chaplin really has you wondering what exactly are his character motives (even though deep down you know he wants her money, like the naive Catherine, you continue to want to believe everyone is wrong). I admit I picked up the book in the first place because I wanted to get a better handle on Morris and his intentions! Also, the soundtrack is just gorgeous.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars love hurts, April 7, 2001

By 

"lady-sweet" (Nowhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Washington Square [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as Catherine Sloper,a clumsy,shy and innocent only daughter of Doctor Sloper(Albert Finney). Her mother died at her birth and her father doesn't seem to like Catherine much. Morris Townsend(Ben Chaplin)falls in love with her but he's not rich and her father starts to believe that Morris just wants to marry Catherine for her money. If she marries Morris her father will disinherit her. What will Catherine do?

The performances of Jennifer Jason Leigh and the handsome Ben Chaplin are fine. So is Albert Finney role as the strict father. The music of the movie is beautiful.

Though the ending was not what I expected,(I actually felt disappointed)I actually can say that I liked the movie(after I watched for the second time). If you like period movies, like me, you should take a look at Washington Square.