MovieChat Forums > The Wings of the Dove (1998) Discussion > How naive do you think Millie was?

How naive do you think Millie was?

posted 19 years ago by cecile_p
16 replies | jump to latest

I love this film and I've watched it many, many times (aren't DVD's great?!) but I've never been able to make up my mind...does Millie know about Kate and Merton and loves Kate for leaving so that Millie can have a chance to be with Merton before she dies? Or is Millie really naive, thinking that Kate knows that Merton likes her (Kate) but she doesn't/can't return his feelings (because of the lack of social status and money) and that Kate wants to remove herself physically so that Millie can be have a chance with Merton?

What are your thoughts?

[–] gonbaoji 19 years ago

If you remember how Millie responded when Kate told her that Merton was just a friend in the museum.. Her look told me right there she probably did not believe her.

In her own way she was naive, setting herself up for a major heartache. Which she got in the end. What one will do for love....

There is my 2 cents...

[–] raluca-stanculescu 19 years ago

I don’t think that Millie was naive, at all. She was a very good person, “tempted” to see the best in people. In the end, she didn’t mind that Merton and Kate tried to fool her , in order to get her money. She forgave them, because all that she ever wanted was their friendship, and nothing else mattered. I guess this is because she had everything, and money didn’t mean much to her, in the end.

[–] gonbaoji 19 years ago

She did indeed want to be loved by Merton before she died. And I guess in his own way he did. He loved her more after she died though.. which was interesting and left poor poor Kate with no man and no money. Unless Auntie did not kick her out.

[–] cecile_p 19 years ago

I don't think Aunt Maude kicked her out -just the opposite. While Kate was left with nothing to make her happy, Aunt Maude finally got rid of Merton and also Millie which would leave her (Maude) free to hatch more schemes. It's ironic how Aunt Maude was probably the only one who would've been happy at the end of the movie -not Kate, Merton, Millie and certainly not Lord Mark.

[–] gonbaoji 19 years ago

Good point, I think I can agree with this!

Whose performance did you like best in this movie?

[–] cecile_p 19 years ago

That's a tough one! I think I'd have to say Alison Elliot because she was such a surprise to me. I'd never heard of her before and she portrayed such a joie de vivre and sweet vulnerability too. However I have expected great things from Helena Bonham Carter and she certainly delivers here. Linus Roache was also wonderful and I had never heard of him before this either -such sad eyes! Charlotte Rampling was great too. The only one that was somewhat disappointing to me was Elizabeth McGovern, though I think it's because her part was so limited in scope. I originally thought that she had a bigger part than she had.

So...I guess Alison Elliot is the one I liked best and it's partly because she really put my heart through the wringer with her line, "Don't! We're beyond that, you and I. I love you...both of you." I think I still tear up whenever I see that. I admit it, I'm a sap!

Whose performance did you like best in this movie and why?

[–] gonbaoji 19 years ago

I seen Alison in another movie and wanted to check her out in this one. I could hardly believe it was the same woman who was in the Spitfire Grill! I had never heard of Linus Roach or HBC...

All of the performances were good, I thought Linus was sorta stale though. And I totally agree with you about Elizabeth McGovern. Alison was brilliant, she made Milly really live and how she longed to be loved was sad. Giving the fact she was dying. HBC no doubt gave the best performance.. I just wanted to smack her sometimes for being such a good liar! :) She was very versitile and dramatic and very very convincing.

I keep waiting for a new movie from Alison.

[–] NuYorkie 19 years ago

Millie was a smart and sensitive woman so she could definitely sense the tension of lovers' intimacy between Kate and Merton when they "accidently" met and then later at the restaurant. However, with her terminal illness it wasn't really important to her if she would ultimately suffer as long as she experienced love and friendship. She took her last chance with Kate's blessing.

[–] gonbaoji 19 years ago

No I can't agree with your "Kate's blessing idea". Kate left so Merton could woo Millie even more and therefore her scheme of her leaving him her money would work. Kate was a liar and manipulater, and a good one at that.

[–] NuYorkie 19 years ago

By blessing I meant acceptance because regardless of her true motive Kate allowed Millie to experience love, since she knew Millie would die, but she wasn't prepared to loose Merton's love in the process.

A really great thing about this movie is its ambiguity. We are not really sure if Millie suspected Kate knew about her terminal illness and what Kate's and Merton’s (who reluctantly agreed to the scheme) ulterior motive was at the point of her departure (IMO she did). It's also uncertain how Millie found out about it---maybe from Lord Mark or maybe on her own.

For whatever reason her best friend Kate left and Millie wanted to believe Kate was honest with her and Merton stayed in Venice for her. Maybe she was fooling herself to make this experience feel real hoping it'd become real. It did become real for Merton and the fact it was all a game didn't matter anymore.

What if she knew all along and realizing her end was near arranged their last meeting to see how Merton would react when she revealed the truth because she sensed he started to love her? To know that before she dies was the most important to her.

[–] lisa-xo 10 years ago

It's also uncertain how Millie found out about it---maybe from Lord Mark or maybe on her own.

no, we find out towards the end of the movie that Kate actually did tell Lord Mark because she was jealous/worried about Merton and Millie's relationship. this, i think, is a major turning point for Merton and Kate's relationship.

[–] NuYorkie 18 years ago

I agree. Reality can be very unpredictable and our actions can produce a totally opposite outcome than the one we planned. Here, the situation reversed itself. In the beginning Kate wouldn't marry Merton without money but in the end she was willing to give up Millie's fortune she so desired to keep his love. We take risks and make decisions that can have unforeseen consequences. No one is truly innocent here. The characters have doubts, go back and forth and ultimately all suffer. The movie is about losses.

[–] juxtapose70 14 years ago

This is one of those movies that I can, and have, watched over and over. I don't believe Millie was naive. I think it was obvious that she believed in the good intentions of everyone. And she CHOSE to see the good in Kate even though as a smart young woman she likely knew. She was dying, afterall, and though she desired Merton's love, in the end they were both all she had.

Allison Elliott rocked this movie's foundations. Her facial expressions, and her gracious beauty supplied all that was necessary. The same is true for Roache. He really had to do a lot of facial expressions since he did less of the verbal communication...and he was so spot on and perfect. I knew what he was thinking just by looking at him. I always knew British actors are better than American actors. But what is up with Hollyweird that they don't cast Elliott in more A movies? Americans are so obtuse sometimes. They don't know greatness nor true beauty when they see it, so they cast ridiculous people like Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock and call it "great". Silly. They're court jesters...not actors.

[–] doldrums452 14 years ago

Allison was sooo gorgeous in this movie. I wish she had been cast in more roles.

Rock stars...is there anything they don't know?

[–] DenLilleHavfrue85 10 years ago

Allison Elliott was amazing. Absolutely perfect casting.

[–] 10 years ago

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