Washington Square

Director Agnieszka Holland bounces back from the disastrously pretentious TOTAL ECLIPSE with this admirably accomplished adaptation of Henry James' novel of 18th-century New York. Catherine Sloper (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is an unprepossessing, socially inept young heiress who must swallow a simple but devastating truth: Her father does not love her. Not only does Dr. Sloper (Albert Finney) consider Catherine a dull disappointment, but he holds her responsible for the death of her beautiful mother, who died in childbirth. Dr. Sloper threatens to disinherit Catherine if she ever marries Morris Townsend (Ben Chaplin) -- the dashing but penniless suitor who may only be ...