Washington Square

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Washington Square

PG

1997

1h 55m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

32 Reviews

69%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A wealthy man (Albert Finney) distrusts the motives of a dashing suitor (Ben Chaplin) courting his plain, sheltered daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in 1850s New York.

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David Ansen

Newsweek

03/06/2018

Holland's passionate version may be truer to James. He'd be startled by its earthiness, but he'd recognize these bruised, complex hearts as his own.

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Mike Clark

USA Today

01/01/2000

2.5/4

There's isn't much tension here, and, if anything, the film is stolen by Maggie Smith and Judith Ivey as Finney's sisters.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

01/01/2000

3/4

Henry James saw more humor in the story than Holland does (although Aunt Lavinia remains comic), but what they both understand is that in a family such as this, everything depends on the money -- unless nothing does.

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Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

02/13/2024

Leigh plays the role Catherine Sloper with a repressed ferocity and has great chemistry with Chaplin.

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

01/18/2019

2.5/4

Not even the usually twinkle-eyed Maggie Smith, here playing Catherine's aunt, can buoy the material.

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Louis Menand

The New York Review of Books

08/17/2018

If you are going to have an appealing Townsend you may as well have a distinctive Catherine. When they are sitting side by side playing piano duets, or kissing passionately in the parlor while the doctor is out, they make believable lovers.

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steve d

07/07/2020

The story is a bit too familiar but Jennifer Jason Leigh is fantastic.

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06/01/2020

An absolute marvel of presenting how bad a film can actually be. A great testament to an equally bad novel.

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07/04/2015

This was just a terrible love story in the end.

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06/08/2014

Needlessly stupidly dreadful love story: a waste of good film.

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01/31/2013

An interesting watch to be sure, but JJ Leigh's quirky portrayal didn't capture a daughter even a flinty heartbroken father would sequester. I found each of the four main characters were so emotionally torqued that their interactions became a sort of screwball tragedy. Fascinating nonetheless.

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12/27/2012

Holland's treatment of Washington Square goes across the line of the interesting into something quite dull. When Jennifer Jason Leigh flops down dramatically in the midst of the film, it represented the most exciting thing about it. Zzzzzz...

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Agnieszka Holland

Director

Jennifer Jason Leigh

Catherine Sloper

Albert Finney

Dr. Austin Sloper

Ben Chaplin

Morris Townsend

Maggie Smith

Aunt Lavinia Penniman

Judith Ivey

Aunt Elizabeth Almond

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Synopsis

A wealthy man (Albert Finney) distrusts the motives of a dashing suitor (Ben Chaplin) courting his plain, sheltered daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in 1850s New York.

Director: Agnieszka Holland
Producer: Roger Birnbaum, Julie Bergman Sender
Screenwriter: Henry James, Carol Doyle
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co: Hollywood Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 3, 1997, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.8M
Runtime: 1h 55m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, Surround
Aspect Ratio: 35mm, Flat (1.85:1)

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