The Age of Innocence

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Enjoy your hours!

Well!

I didn't think the Mingotts|would have tried it on.

Parading her at the opera.

Sitting her next to May Welland.|It's all very odd.

Well, she's had such an odd life.

Will they bring her|to the Beauforts' ball?

If they do, the talk|will be of little else.

Good evening, Mrs. Welland, May.

Newland.

You know my niece, Countess Olenska.

Countess.

I hope you've told Madame Olenska.

What?

That we're engaged.

I want everybody to know.

Let me announce it at the ball.

If you can persuade Mama.

Why should we change what is settled?

But you can tell my cousin yourself.|She remembers you.

I remember we played together.

How this brings it all back to me.

I remember everybody|in knickerbockers and pantalettes.

You were horrid.

You kissed me once behind a door.

But it was Vandy, who never|looked at me, that I loved.

- You have been away a very long time.|- Centuries and centuries.

So long, I'm sure I'm dead|and this dear place is heaven.

It invariably happened,|as everything did in those days...

...in the same way.

...Mrs. Julius Beaufort appeared,|unaccompanied by her husband...

...just before "The Jewel Song. "

And, again as usual,|rose at the end of the third act...

...and disappeared.

New York then knew|that a half-hour later...

...the Beauforts' annual|opera ball would begin.

Carriages waited at the curb|for the entire performance.

It was known in New York|but never acknowledged...

...that Americans want|to leave amusement...

...even more quickly|than they want to get to it.

The Beauforts' house was one of|the few in New York with a ballroom.

Such a room, shuttered in darkness|364 days of the year...

...was felt to compensate for whatever|was regrettable in the Beaufort past.

Regina Beaufort came from|an old South Carolina family.

But her husband, Julius,|who passed for an Englishman...

...was known to have dissipated|habits, a bitter tongue...

...and mysterious antecedents.

His marriage assured him|a social position...

...but not necessarily respect.

Newland Archer hadn't stopped at|his club, as young men usually did...

...but came directly to the ball.

He wanted the announcement|of his engagement...

...to divert gossip away|from the countess...

...and show his most ardent support|for May and her whole family.

The Beaufort house had been|boldly planned.

Instead of squeezing through|a passage to get to the ballroom...

...one marched solemnly down a vista|of enfiladed drawing rooms.

But only by passing through|the crimson drawing room...

...could one see|The Return of Spring...

...the much-discussed nude|by Bouguereau...

Archer enjoyed such challenges|to convention.

He questioned conformity in private...

...but in public he upheld|family and tradition.

This was a world balanced|so precariously...

...that its harmony could be|shattered by a whisper.

On the whole, Archer was amused by|the smooth hypocrisies of his peers.

He may even have envied them.

Lawrence Lefferts, for instance...

...was New York's foremost|authority on form.

His opinion on pumps|versus patent-leather oxfords...

...had never been disputed.

On matters of surreptitious romance...

...his skills went unquestioned.

Old Mr. Sillerton Jackson was|as great an authority on family...

...as Lawrence Lefferts was on form.

The mean and melancholy history of|Countess Olenska's European marriage...

...was a buried treasure|he hastened to excavate.

He carried, like a calling card...

...an entire register|of the scandals and mysteries...

...that had smoldered under|the unruffled surface of society...

...for the last 50 years.

Now, Julius Beaufort's secret|was the way he carried things off.

He could arrive casually at his|party as if he were another guest...

...and might leave early...

...for a more modest but comforting|address in the East 30s.

He was intrepid in his business...

...but in his personal affairs,|absolutely audacious.

Archer's fiancee was innocent of all|these intrigues and of much else.

May Welland represented for Archer|all that was best in their world...

...all that he honored.|And she anchored him to it.

I've told my friends,|just as you asked.

I couldn't wait.

- I wish it hadn't been at a ball.|- But even here we're alone.

The worst of it is that|I want to kiss you and I can't.

Did you tell Ellen as I asked you to?

I didn't have a chance after all.

She's my cousin.|If others know before she does....

She's been away for so long.|She's rather sensitive.

I'll tell her.|But I didn't see her yet.

- She didn't come at the last minute.|- At the last minute?

She thought her dress|wasn't smart enough.

We thought it was lovely,|but she asked to be taken home.

Oh, well.

Very handsome.

Very liberal.

In my time, a cameo set in pearls|was thought to be sufficient.

But it's the hand that sets off|the ring, isn't it?

The setting shows|the stone beautifully.

But it looks bare|to old-fashioned eyes.

I hope you don't mean mine, my dear.|I like all the novelties.

My hands were modeled in Paris by|the great Rochet. He should do May's.

Show me, child.

Her hand is so tempered.

These modern sports spread the joints.

But the skin is white.

When's the wedding?

Soon, if only you'll back me up,|Mrs. Mingott.

We must give them time|to know each other better.

Know each other?

Everyone in New York|has always known everyone.

Don't wait till the bubble's off|the wine. Marry before Lent.

I may catch pneumonia, and I want|to give the wedding breakfast.

What a kind offer.

Even if she hadn't been|May's grandmother...

...Mrs. Manson Mingott would|have been the first to receive...

...the required betrothal visit.

She was not only the matriarch|of this world...

...she was nearly its dowager empress.

Much of New York was related to her...

...and she knew the remainder|by marriage or by reputation.

Though brownstone was the norm...

...she lived magisterially|within a large house...

...of controversial pale,|cream-colored stone...

...in an inaccessible wilderness|near the Central Park.

The burden of her flesh|had long since made it impossible...

...for her to climb stairs.

So with characteristic|independence...

...she had established herself|on the ground floor of her house.

From her sitting room, there was|an unexpected vista of her bedroom.

Her visitors were fascinated by|the foreignness of this arrangement...

...which recalled scenes|in French fiction.

This was how women with lovers|lived in the wicked old societies.

But if she had wanted a lover...

...the intrepid woman|would have had him too.

For now, she was content simply...

...and to anticipate eagerly|the union of Newland Archer...

...with her granddaughter, May.

In them, two of New York's|best families...

...would finally|and momentously be joined.

- Goodbye, Mama.|- Goodbye.

Ellen.

Beaufort, this is a rare favor.

Unnecessarily rare, I'd say.

I met Countess Ellen,|and she let me walk home with her.

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