--- title: "The Age of Innocence: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-age-of-innocence/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-age-of-innocence" critics_score: 84 critics_reviews: 17 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Age of Innocence (1993): what the critics said Critics' score 84 from 17 reviews: 16 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 17 September 1993. Ebert praises Scorsese's elegant, faithful adaptation of Wharton's novel as a brutal story of crushed passion and social repression, filmed with patience and visual grace. He singles out the performances, especially the final scene's poignant revelations about sacrifice and regret. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-age-of-innocence-1993) ## The Times — Kevin Maher Rating ★★★★★. 17 March 2023. The critic calls it Scorsese’s masterpiece and one of his finest films, a visually sumptuous adaptation pulsing with frustrated tension and unspoken sadness. It singles out the electrifying chemistry between the leads and the shattering closing scene for praise. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-age-of-innocence-1993-review-scorsese-s-masterpiece-k9tmbvp82) ## Empire — Angie Errigo Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. Scorsese delivers a rapturous, sensuous adaptation of Wharton's novel of forbidden love and high-society rituals in 1870s New York, with ravishing period detail and strong performances. The critic singles out the meticulous mise-en-scène, voice-over narration, and standout work from Day-Lewis, Pfeiffer, and especially Ryder for praise. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/age-innocence-review/) ## Little White Lies — Dan Einav Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 29 January 2017. The critic calls the film a Scorsese work through and through despite its lack of violence or profanity, praising its exploration of brutality beneath manners and social ritual. It singles out the director's own description of the film as his most violent for its cold-blooded portrayal of repressed emotion in 1870s New York society. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/the-age-of-innocence-martin-scorsese-most-violent-film) ## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 21 March 2018. Scorsese's adaptation is an astonishing achievement that belongs in the canon of classic American cinema, rendering Wharton's world of innuendo, subtext, and repressed desire with obsessive visual flair and neurotic maximalism. It captures the exquisite agony of passion that must remain theoretical amid rigid social constraints. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-age-of-innocence-bd/) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 March 2023. The critic hails Scorsese’s adaptation as a visually breathtaking and exquisitely refined tragedy of manners from 1870s New York high society. It singles out the powerfully matched performances of Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer as guilty lovers for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/15/the-age-of-innocence-review-scorsese-daniel-day-lewis-michelle-pfeiffer) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 September 1993. Scorsese has made a gorgeously uncharacteristic film that functions as a window on a world he had just discovered. The Wharton novel is a deliciously hard-edged satire of manners and customs, and Scorsese's outsider's fascination matches that of the author. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/17/movies/review-film-the-age-of-innocence-grand-passions-and-good-manners.html) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel about repressed passion in 1870s New York high society is magnificent and expressionistic, with excellent performances and vivid use of mise-en-scène, decor, gesture and ironic narration to convey erotic fervour trapped by social rituals. It is the director's most poignantly moving film. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-age-of-innocence) ## Vulture — Matt Zoller Seitz Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2021. The film delivers unrelenting emotional and psychological violence that is as invasive and devastating as the physical brutality in Scorsese's gangster pictures. It stands out for blending historical observation with dynamic cinematic techniques to expose tribal power structures and repressed passion. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2021/01/the-exquisite-violence-of-scorseses-the-age-of-innocence.html) ## Film Comment — Steven Mears Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 29 September 2017. Scorsese's version is definitive and one of his most visually dynamic works, using free-ranging camerawork, color, and editing to convey the cruelty of Gilded Age society's stifling mores and emotional violence. It balances nostalgia for the era's surfaces with clear-eyed recognition of the brutality beneath the polite surfaces. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/tcm-diary-ages-innocence/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 17 September 1993. Turan calls the film a beautifully done, polished, and cinematic adaptation that masterfully meets the challenge of Wharton's delicate romance despite Scorsese's visceral reputation. He praises the re-creation of period detail and the lead performances, especially Day-Lewis, while noting a certain distance in tone. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-17-ca-36053-story.html) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 6 September 1993. Scorsese delivers a serious film with sumptuous detail and a brilliant central performance from Daniel Day-Lewis, though some casting choices leave female characters corseted and the emotion not fully felt. It succeeds as a wake-up call from the past rather than a mere costume piece. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/09/13/gilded-pleasures) ## The Independent — Adam Mars-Jones Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 28 January 1994. Scorsese reformulates his style for a subtler, more indirect subject, bringing the past to life through precise detail without false immediacy and conveying the hypocrisy and social codes of old New York. The critic praises the film's anthropological eye, production design, and clever use of voice-over and imagery while noting it succeeds by not being merely painterly. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-mastering-the-past-the-big-picture-adam-marsjones-on-martin-scorsese-s-the-age-of-innocence-1409924.html) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 August 1993. Festival review. An extraordinarily sumptuous piece of filmmaking and an impeccably faithful adaptation, with superb craft in all departments, but the material remains cloaked by propriety and emotional starchiness, limiting its appeal to sophisticated viewers. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1993/film/reviews/the-age-of-innocence-1200432845/) ## Den of Geek — David Crow Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 September 2023. The film is an underrated masterpiece and Scorsese's most cruel and ruthless vision of a closed society, a sumptuous triumph that faithfully adapts Wharton's novel while revealing emotional and psychological violence more harrowing than physical brutality. It excels in its meticulous recreation of the era's refined customs as a facade for tribal control and self-sacrifice. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/martin-scorsese-right-the-age-of-innocence-most-violent-movie/) ## /Film — Jeremy Smith Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 November 2025. Scorsese's adaptation is a masterpiece of heartbreaking repression in Gilded Age New York society. The critic praises the performances, especially Day-Lewis, the period detail in production design and costumes, and the lush Elmer Bernstein score. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/2032786/daniel-day-lewis-romance-movie-the-age-of-innocence-deserves-love/) ## Collider — Ron Evangelista Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 5 January 2023. The film is Scorsese's most brutal work through its depiction of emotional and societal violence rather than physical. The critic highlights the subtle, devastating performances and the way high-society repression leads to profound heartbreak. [Read the review](https://collider.com/the-age-of-innocence-martin-scorsese/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-age-of-innocence.md