The Age of Innocence

10.00AM – 5.00PM
01 Jun 2009 – 20 Sep 2009 | GOMA | Cinema A

The Met Film Programs: Presented in conjunction with 'American Impressionism and Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met', The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The Australian Cinémathèque will present a two-part film program reflecting life on the American East Coast at the turn of the twentieth century.

The Age of Innocence program presents an extraordinary selection of cinematic period dramas that recreate the lives of Americans on the east coast in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Envisaged by contemporary filmmakers, with dramatic settings, lavish costuming and visually rich art direction, the films celebrate the complex web of domesticity, affluence and social mores of the time. Drawing on literary sources including Henry James and Edith Wharton, they delve into the social codes and traditions that regulated relations of class and gender through every aspect of daily life. The film program highlights the growing contrasts between the traditions and values of the old century and the excitement and transformations of the new, including the rise and fashionable appeal of international tourism and the social implications of new money. Shaped by the advent of urban modernity, new immigrant communities and the rise of urban crime, The Age of Innocence program showcases the complex social experiences of Americans as they faced life in a period of rapid change.

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