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| Washington Square | 
| Director: Agnieszka Holland
Actors: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Maggie Smith, Ben Chaplin, Judith Ivey
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $4.41
You Save: $5.58 (56%)
Buy New/Used from $4.41
Avg. Customer Rating:  (40 reviews)
Sales Rank: 47691
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 115 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: DISD17632D
UPC: 717951003423
EAN: 0717951003423
ASIN: B000065V3V
Release Date: September 3, 2002
Theatrical Release Date: October 10, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| 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
Product Description
She must choose between her fathers fortune.. Or the man she loves. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/03/2002 Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Garner Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Agnieszka Holland
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 WASHINGTON SQUARE September 23, 2008
I have both versions of this movie; the original being
"The Heiress" with Olivia deHavilland, but Jennifer Jason Leigh was made for this role. Excellent cast, excellent film!!
DVD: Washington Square March 17, 2008
Washington Square is a remake of The Heiress, which starred Olivia De Havilland and Montgomery Clift in 1949. Amazon.com was the only place I could find this DVD. Jennifer Jason Leigh is superb as the lonely young woman in search of happiness, and Albert Finney is hateful as her overbearing father who does not love her. I enjoy this version just as much as the original.
 Far To Dull... DO NOT BUY!!! April 20, 2007
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am a lover of all things period and this movie does have some nice settings and costumes in it, however that is all it has to offer. All the actors do is trip over each other and whisper little to no dialogue of not much consequence. One can barely tell what the story is trying to relate the dialogue is so scant. I am sorry but just having actors stare into the camera is not great drama. I wonder did this movie have a director? But of course, it did, someone had to purposefully make all these mistakes. This was a big disappointment and not even worth renting!
If you are looking for a happy ending, Don't Watch! April 12, 2007
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
I am from the old-school notion that if you are going to have a romantic movie, the girl should end up with the guy at the end. I don't mind drama, though there was no great meaning from her being alone in the end. This is not a pick me upper movie, and if you feel kinda like an old maid waiting for love, this old maid in the movie never finds love. The ending is horrible! Or maybe I am just too simple to understand some profound meaning of her sitting there all alone, playing her piano. I just don't get it.
 Loved it until I read the book January 31, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
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.
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