How far would you go for love? Would you walk across countless miles of desert to save your dearest love like the English patient? Or would you wait night after night in the rain for a sign like Cinema Paradiso’s Toto? Could you bring yourself to seduce a wealthy lady on the verge of death in hopes of using her fortune to finance your marriage like the characters in The Wings of the Dove? Or is that pushing it a little too far?

Based on Henry James’s novel, The Wings of the Dove wins us over with its colorful characters and passionately devious story. Director Iain Softley knows the perfect recipe for a film of this type. He manages to preserve the visual and intellectual splendor of Merchant-Ivory films while avoiding the sluggishness that inevitably leads to boredom.

What lies behind the elaborate plan in Wings? Though they are madly in love, Kate (Helena Bonham Carter) and Merton (Linus Roache of Priest) cannot marry. Kate Croy must obey her aunt Maude, who acts as her ward. Maude intends for Kate to marry a wealthy aristocrat who will be able to support her, unlike Merton who is merely a poor journalist. First on Maude’s list is Lord Mark (Alex Jennings), a despicable and conceited character.

Meanwhile, Kate has other plans. She and Merton Densher have been secretly engaged. Without money, their love could only ruin them, but there’s hope in the form of a terminally ill and extremely wealthy American orphan named Millie (Allison Elliot). “She’d be the queen of America if they had one,” Lord Mark explains. “She’s worth millions.”

When Millie first spies Merton, she immediately falls for him. Her wealth may be the only chance the two forbidden lovers have to live together. Knowing that Millie will leave Merton her fortune, Kate suggests that he spend some time in Venice with Millie during her final days. Taking advantage of Millie’s affections could be the only hope for their relationship.

Kate actually borrows her idea from Lord Mark, who hopes to marry Millie and inherit her money so he can afford to save his decaying castle and estate. In Softley’s film, Lord Mark’s greed clearly distinguishes him as the ‘bad guy’ even though his plan seems less deceptive than what the lovers intend to do. Millie is the type of good-hearted character who would recognize Kate and Merton’s problem and try to solve it, yet they choose to betray her instead. The characters constantly evaluate one another, though the film itself passes no moral judgments. In fact, the ending is left open for us to imagine what might come of all the dishonesty.

One of the things that makes the movie so interesting is that the dialogue is frequently misleading. Characters often say one thing when they clearly mean another, transforming their lines into social riddles. To find out what’s really going on, we must pay special attention to facial expressions, an area in which the three lead actors excel.

Helena Bonham Carter, whom you may recognize as the actress who played Ophelia opposite Mel Gibson’s Hamlet, turns Kate into a much more sympathetic character than you’ll find in James’s novel. Constantly filled with wide-eyed anticipation, she resembles a melancholy version of Betty Boop. Kate seems to be the perfect model of early 20th century fashion in her elaborate feathered hats and colorful outfits. Nevertheless, we can sense her discomfort. Her life is weighted down by the need for money, though she constantly debates to herself whether she should disregard the consequences and run away with Merton.

As both Kate’s opposite and her companion, Millie comes across as pure and carefree. As Percy in The Spitfire Grill, Allison Elliot proved her ability to deal with complex features to create a fully-rounded character. Here, she glows with an angelic grace despite her troubles. On the surface, she appears to be someone who has lived her entire life protected from the hardships of the rest of the world. She carefully masks her struggle to remain optimistic about her terminal cancer.

Soft-spoken and bashful, Linus Roache makes Merton an intensely interesting character. His predicament is not as simple as being caught between the loves of two women. To make things more complicated, he must betray both his true love and the innocent lady he respects in order to carry out the plan. As a member of the middle class, he may not have much respect for social morals, but his own conscience proves to be his greatest adversary.

The three actors give their characters such depth that they easily transcend their lines. Still, much of the movie hinges on the insightful script by Hossein Amini, who also adapted Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure for the screen. The conventions that imprison Kate and Merton may not apply today, but the film does a marvelous job of immersing you in its world. As an added bonus, Softley uses the beauties of Venice as a contrast to the torments of Merton’s soul

What emerges is an admirable and beautifully-enacted story that only begins to unfold the moral and social critiques that lie at its core. In a market of movies that behave like mother birds, chewing and digesting ideas for us, Wings actually leaves much of the thinking to the audience. Some viewers, myself included, may find it disappointing that the ending comes just when the story starts to boil. We are too accustomed to clear outcomes in the movies we watch. Softley seems to be saying that even in a society as unyielding as the one he shows us, nothing can be taken for granted.