The House of Mirth

"When a woman has the beauty men admire and women envy... it is wise to tread carefully."

2000 2h 20m EN

😐

6.2

MID

🍅

82%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★6.2TMDB · 91🍅82%Rotten Tomatoes●78Metacritic★7IMDB · 8,187

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In early 20th century New York City, an impoverished socialite desperately seeks a suitable husband as she gradually finds herself betrayed by her friends and exiled from high society.

“When a woman has the beauty men admire and women envy... it is wise to tread carefully.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Gillian Anderson
Lily Bart
Dan Aykroyd
Augustus 'Gus' Trenor
Eleanor Bron
Mrs. Julia Peniston, Lily's Aunt
Terry Kinney
George Dorset
Anthony LaPaglia
Sim Rosedale
Laura Linney
Bertha Dorset
Jodhi May
Grace Julia Stepney
Elizabeth McGovern
Mrs. Carry Fisher

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Terence Davies
Writers: Terence Davies
Languages: German, French, English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 52% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, French, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Terence Davies, shot by Remi Adefarasin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Parker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gillian Anderson and Dan Aykroyd and Eleanor Bron carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "When a woman has the beauty men admire and women envy... it is wise to tread carefully.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0200720 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Terence Davies directs. Remi Adefarasin behind the camera. Michael Parker cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in German, French, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 52% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
226 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, French, English.
4Directed by Terence Davies, shot by Remi Adefarasin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Michael Parker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Gillian Anderson and Dan Aykroyd and Eleanor Bron carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "When a woman has the beauty men admire and women envy... it is wise to tread carefully.".
8IMDB entry: tt0200720 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 91 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 15 themes, including "new york city", "based on novel or book", "despair", "loneliness".

The technical file

Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin
Editing: Michael Parker
Production design: Don Taylor
Costume design: Monica Howe
Makeup / hair: Eva Marieges Moore
VFX supervisor: John Paul Docherty
Sound: Paul Hamblin
Runtime: 140 min · 2h 20m
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $5,164,404
Return: 52% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: The House of Mirth (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes: 82% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 78/100
IMDB rating: 7/10 · 8,187 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Nominated for 2 BAFTA 6 wins & 29 nominations total

Also by

Terence Davies

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-11-16
★ 7/10
“Lily” is a smart, charismatic and charming socialite who frequents the best houses in New York as the twentieth century beckons. She is not, however, a wealthy woman. She has a small annuity and is largely dependent on income from her aunt “Julia” (Eleanor Bron). She also has a penchant for bridge. The kind that sees gambling debts accrue! Finding herself in need of funds and feeling that she dare not ask her benefactress, she is soon vulnerable to the machinations of some wealthy and unscrupulous men who have all they will ever need in life, save for a glamorous and “suitable” wife. She does have one more earnest suitor in “Selden” (Eric Stoltz) but it’s her financial dalliance with “Gus” (Dan Aykroyd) that sows the seeds of her spiral into a series of catch-22 scenarios that increasingly find her ostracised from those she loved, liked and needed. “Lily” is not a woman equipped for poverty, but at every turn that looks like the road she must travel as her options become hemmed in by her earlier choices and her own decency and pride. The start of this drama does come across as a sort of poor man’s Merchant Ivory, but that actually serves quite well in illustrating just how faux this whole society was. Built entirely on wealth and social standing, it was trying to emulate the aristocratic hierarchies of London, or Paris, or Vienna but without the history or, dare one say it, the “breeding”. It is startlingly shallow. Once we have embarked on her journey, though, Gillian Anderson really does begin to imbue her character with characteristics that are both pitiable and frustrating. Here is the sort of woman whose toast would always land butter side down, and once the very whiff of toxicity became associated with “Lily”, it manifested itself cruelly and irreversibly - and again, Anderson brings a delicate vulnerability to that persona. Stoltz is a bit weak and feeble, indeed none of the male roles here really stand out. Possibly because they are all fairly insipid and/or unpleasant, but also because none of the writing is for them and so they remain little more than wallpaper. As to any sense of sisterhood, well it’s not just the menfolk who know how to turnstile screw and both Bron and Laura Linney’s “Bertha” prove every bit as merciless. Perhaps unexpectedly, it doesn’t shy away from quite a provocative ending and if you can just sit tight through the opening scenes of high-costumed, chandeliered, melodrama, then this turns into something quite poignant and worth a watch.

Production companies