Word: leigh
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...first time, Catherine's story is told by a director and an actress with whom she bears much in common. Both Holland and star Jennifer Jason Leigh have contributed years of solid, sometimes spectacular work to the male-dominated film industry, but neither has received the critical or popular recognition they deserve. In their sensitive hands, Washington Square-as-film comes closer to what James originally wrote: an elegy to a woman whom few people notice and no one loves...
...decision to cast Leigh is a big risk with big payoffs. Most famous for playing hookers and addicts in films like Last Exit to Brooklyn and Georgia, Leigh's participation in a costume drama is an almost absurd proposition...
...Austin Sloper (Albert Finney), the man whose residence we have entered, is more derailed by his wife's death than delighted by his daughter's birth. Named for her mother, and thus a constant reminder of Dr. Sloper's loss, Catherine (Leigh) grows up with little hope of connecting with her distant, resentful father. Worse, Austin's sister Lavinia (Maggie Smith) fancies herself a surrogate mother but is too uncouth and undisciplined to make of Catherine a sophisticated lady...
...incongruities between her persona and the period, however, serve to reinforce the essential awkwardness Catherine Sloper feels in her own environment. The skittish, chameleon-like quality that has kept Leigh from being a star is perfectly suited to Catherine. She almost disappears inside her own scenes until her misery and confusion are quietly compelling and almost uncomfortable to behold...
Still, if Washington Square is not necessarily ground-breaking, it does bear the marks of diligent artists lending their talents to strong material. Neither Holland nor Leigh will soon be found guilty of the "Lost World" Syndrome: namely, making the same movie over and over simply because they can. Neither woman's work is ever uninteresting, and when all their cylinders are running, as they are here, attention deserves to be paid...