The film Wings of the Dove is based on the novel of the same name by American writer Henry James, and tells a story of love and desire, friendship and intrigue.
Kate, played by Helena Bonham Carter, is a beautiful, intelligent, and a little broken woman. Although the film was released in 1997, seeing Helena now reminds her of bellatrix, the female villain she played in Harry Potter. Helena herself has a femme fatalistic temperament, so it's not surprising that the character she plays doesn't seem to do anything.
The film focuses on the love triangle around Kate, Morton, and Millie. Kate and Morton are lovers who worry about money, Kate and Millie are good friends, and Millie likes Morton. Unlike her girlfriend's dog blood routine, Kate allows Morton to fall in love with Millie and even assists them in Venice. The reason Kate is a "femme fatale" is that she can use her beloved Morton in order to get Millie's property. Love and friendship are equally important to her, and equally unimportant. She didn't regret every move she took, until the moment Millie fell ill and died, and they completely woke up.
Kate gave up the money, and Morton returned to Venice, where he and Millie remembered. Millie is gone, but he is in love with her. They will spend the rest of their lives being harshly condemned by their conscience to atone for their desires. A hoax about love freezes Millie's purity, Morton's memories, and Kate's regrets.
Kate: Destroyed by spoiled desires
"Wings of the Dove" has been translated as "Wings of Desire", and the word "desire" can be said to be a point. After the death of her mother, Kate is adopted by a snobbish aunt who wants to marry Kate to a rich man to ensure that she will not repeat her mother's old mistakes, and the assertive Kate has fallen in love with morton, a reporter who has no money, but the relationship is not allowed.
Money is the source of Kate's desires, and if she and Morton have money, she can get out of her aunt's control and fly away with Morton. Seeing the scene where Kate and Morton secretly meet and are very intimate, it is difficult to imagine that she will give Morton to someone else later.
After Kate is warned by her aunt, she deliberately distances herself from Morton while figuring out how to be with him. At this time, Millie, a rich and wealthy orphan girl, appeared next to Kate, and they became friends. Millie has her own mind, intelligence, and candor, and she falls in love with Morton at first sight, but she is seriously ill and won't live long.
Good friends and themselves like the same man, which is an opportunity for Kate. Millie is no ordinary woman, she is rich, short-lived, and loves Morton. Kate tries to hide her relationship with Morton in front of Millie, first to maintain friendship and second, for her plans. If she sacrificed Morton a little and made Millie fall in love with him, then after Millie's death, she would leave all her possessions to Morton, which was a good thing for both birds, and she would not have to worry about money anymore, but also reap love. All she has to do is wait and endure, which is also a test for her.
As a "deadly woman", Kate does not have a snake heart, but she can achieve her goals by any means. Whether it's using Morton as a pawn for herself or creating solitude for him and Millie, she can bury her jealousy and anger in her heart. Because she can suppress her own emotions too much, just to achieve great things, it will cause Morton to question, does she not love him? How could she possibly not love him. It's just that she knows that without money, love is worthless. Kate sees through reality but won't marry a man she doesn't love in the name of money. She longs to break free from her aunt and the rules of high society, but the little-known Morton cannot help her, so she has to think of her own way.
Kate is a very contradictory female character. On the one hand, she dares to take the initiative to fight for love and does not succumb to fate. On the other hand, the way she changes her fate is to temporarily sacrifice love, in addition to hurting Morton, she indirectly "kills" Millie, who is getting worse and worse.
After Kate left Venice, Morton felt good and guilty about Millie in the day and night, and he knew that he should not deceive this good girl, and his heart was tormented. And Kate? While worrying about her own plans, she is worried that Morton will fake the real drama and really fall in love with Millie, so she borrows the mouth of others and reveals to Millie that she and Morton have long been together. This kind of news is a thunderbolt for Millie, who until the last moment of her life chooses to believe Morton and Kate because she loves them, and friendship and love are just as important in her eyes.
In contrast to Millie's innocence, or her self-deceptive decency, Kate's open-mindedness is not real. Even if she returns home alone in order not to wear the gang, leaving Morton and Millie to stabilize the relationship, she just does not want to see them intimately, and she may personally ruin the plan that is getting closer and closer to success. However, in a foreign land, she still thinks wildly all day, she does not believe that quick feelings are not tempting, and her loyalty to Morton is shaken.
How terrible would it be for a woman to be devoured by lust and jealousy? Kate's knock on the side succeeds, and the news that she and Morton are lovers crush Millie and wait for the property, but Morton's love fades. Obviously, she did this to maintain love at first, but in the end, she had everything and lost her most precious love. Or is it inherently wrong to have material desires in the name of love?
Kate's original desire to work for love is slowly deteriorating, and her so-called plan is mixed with human greed and moral problems. The smooth progress of the plan was eroding her conscience, and the simple desire for money escalated into a blasphemy of friendship and jealousy of harm to others. Illness "kills" Millie, while desire deteriorates and "destroys" Kate. It cannot be denied that Kate burned the letters of the property left by Millie after being punctured by Morton, which may be her only conscience left.
Millie: The embodiment of perfection in memory
If Kate is likened to a seductive femme fatale, then Millie is the perfect angel. She has a lot of money but is not stupid, and she can fight for love, but she also maintains a valuable curiosity and restraint. When Millie learns that her surrender of her true friendship and love is a deception, she still chooses to forgive and leave this hypocritical world freely, and after lamenting the injustice, she thinks carefully that the angel should have returned to heaven, leaving only the redeemer to fight in the human world.
In Venice, when Millie invites Kate and Morton, who are traveling with her, to climb the stairs together, they both refuse, and Morton's eyes are only for Kate to stay. Millie stubbornly walked up the stairs and contentedly overlooked people and things on the terrace. Her innocence and beauty are not found in Kate, who is smoothed out by the world, and it is also the charm that gradually attracts Morton.
Millie's love for Morton is desperate, she will run to Morton's house to find him on a rainy day when her physical condition deteriorates; she will childishly pretend to cough to attract Morton's attention; she will climb the scaffolding just to see the fresco, and Morton will unconsciously follow her steps. It's like angels leading mortals, and mortals can't reach angels.
The deeper Millie's love for Morton, the more Morton felt her goodness, and the stronger the sense of remorse in his heart. Angels incarnate as human beings, not to retain the love they desire with divine power, but to make the memory of themselves eternal even if they are not in the world. That's what Millie meant to Morton.
When Millie was seriously ill and her plans were revealed, Morton confessed: "I went to the places we had been, and I was afraid that we would miss each other, so I waited in the same place for hours."
I don't think it's Morton's sweet words to cover up his defenses against Kate's scam, which he's also emotional. People are like this, the more they are about to lose this feeling, the more they know how to cherish. However, the angel is returning to heaven, and the mortal's regrets can only be digested by him for the rest of his life.
Millie's perfect image was kept from the first shot of her appearance to the end. Because it is impeccable, it has always haunted Morton's heart. Innocence sets off his ugliness, and when he tries to stop the loss in time, Millie has become an untouchable lover. When Kate decides to forgive Morton, she makes a condition that he can't fall in love with the memories of Millie. The words shook Morton, and he couldn't do it. Her sincerity, her understanding, her love can only exist in remembrance, and it is worth Morton's life to pay tribute to.
Morton: Days in Venice are a feast of dreams
What kind of place is Venice for Morton? In the face of Millie's offer, he did not agree to go on vacation with them, Millie liked him, and he had no feelings for her. However, after Kate's letter, he set off for Venice with great joy, alleviating the embarrassment of refusing Millie's invitation on the pretext of saving money.
The obvious double standard shows Morton's love for Kate, which is where Kate's confidence lies in carrying out this dangerous plan. Morton could meet Kate in high society dance and give courtesy to other women just to qualify. He had no money and status, so he could only remain humble.
The trip to Venice was a nightmare for Morton that gave him passion and regret. He wanted to take the opportunity to avoid the eyes and spend more time alone with Kate, but he didn't expect that Kate's ambitions would push him towards another woman. After Kate leaves and leaves him and Millie in Venice, Morton's dream also awakens, and he says a little gambled that he will not go back, because there is nothing left to linger on. Kate's fierceness was exchanged for Morton's disappointment.
Compared to Morton's intense love for Kate, his feelings for Millie are sacred, and it cannot be said that he does not love Millie enough, and his love has no lustful color. In order not to betray Kate or not to hurt Millie, Morton is very entangled in his heart, he is a participant in this plan, he will kill Millie. For Morton, the relationship with Millie is a pity, he can understand her humility, she wants to give everything to Morton, just like he did to Kate, two people who feel sorry for each other can understand each other. If they meet in different time and space, will the ending be satisfactory? Millie's death was his nightmare, haunting him with the pain of a lifetime.
Morton, who is torn between the two women, should have been relieved after getting Millie's property, but he could not escape the condemnation of his conscience, and the figure of Millie in his memory, this love is too heavy, more complicated than Kate's love. So, in the end, he returned to Venice alone, the place where they had walked together. If Kate represents worldly love and Millie symbolizes ideal love that can only be viewed from a distance, then Morton's final decision shows his willingness to guard the "white moonlight" in his heart, perhaps the beginning of his atonement.
Who is the biggest beneficiary of this conspiracy? Needless to say, Kate and Morton get Millie's property as they wish, but the money is dripping with blood, and they kill the innocent Millie with lust, and finally they see through their ugliness, and even their most proud love becomes worthless.
I think millie is the winner, and although the early death of the beauty is tragic, Morton's scene has made up a dream for her dying, and she can deceive herself into being the real lover of Venice. And this dream woke up, it was also the time for her to say goodbye, although she had a crush on her heart, it was still good to leave a memory with the person she liked, at least after she left Morton always thought about her. This reminiscence, the power of the undead Millie even subverted his and Kate's love. Millie's victory comes at the cost of death, and the most perfect of this time will remain in the heart of Morton alive. They poured out all the regrets and memories they exchanged for a conspiracy to end the curtain.