Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Adapted Screenplay 1993

The Contenders:

The Age of Innocence
In the Name of the Father
The Remains of the Day
Schindler’s List (winner)
Shadowlands

Fables of the Reconstruction

Film: The Age of Innocence
Format: DVD from Schmaling Memorial Library through interlibrary loan on rockin’ flatscreen.

I can’t know what was going on in Martin Scorsese’s mind when it came to directing The Age of Innocence, based on a novel by Edith Wharton. I imagine, though, that his decision was made in part as a way to earn something like greater credibility. He certainly had a good deal of credibility before 1993, but it would be easy to pigeonhole his career as a director who made a very specific type of film. Even in his non-gangster pictures, many of his characters act like gangsters. The Age of Innocence is a complete break with the sort of films Scoresese was known for. I wonder what others thought when he was working on it. Would it come out as a Reconstruction Era Taxi Driver?

It didn’t, of course. The Age of Innocence is, as far as I can tell, faithful to Wharton’s novel. If Scorsese was looking for respect, or wanted to offer proof that his skill as a director wasn’t limited to people trying to kill each other and criminal acts, this was the perfect vehicle him.