90
Davies has nailed Wharton's bitter satire of the flights and follies of New York society in the Gilded Age, and leading lady Gillian Anderson shows dazzling range in her portrayal of the book's doomed heroine.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
90
Leisurely yet streamlined film, brilliantly adapted by British filmmaker Terence Davies from Edith Wharton's most powerful novel.
100
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
The stop-the-presses news from The House of Mirth is the number of fine performances from people you never knew had it in them.
88
There was little mirth or innocence in the world that Wharton was able to write her way out of (she was much happier living in Paris), and Davies and his leading lady lift the silks to reveal it as the minefield it was.
90
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
The cast as a whole is astonishing--especially Gillian Anderson as Lily and Dan Aykroyd in his finest role to date.
80
With consummate grace and exceptional style, Terence Davies transformed Edith Wharton's caustic tragedy of manners into a somber, languid dream.
38
Anderson, in her first major non-Scully film role, is lethally miscast.
100
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
The House of Mirth is not one of those teacup and doily movies; it's harsh and disturbing. Davies does superlatively right by Wharton. There's blood on the walls.
91
Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy
Anderson, possessed of an eerily Edwardian aspect, is superb, luminous and knowing and convincingly proud and desperate as the situation requires.
90
Anderson's Lily is the kind of heroine who earns our protectiveness by never begging for it; it's an astonishing performance.