I confess: I have, as yet, watched only the first half of this film (equivalent to the first book of the novel, if I remember correctly), and I can simply go no further. It lacks so much of the novel's depth -- and what little it does manage to convey, it does in so clumsy a manner -- that I can only wonder whom Scorsese intended it for (the illiterate?).
How much better it might have been if Scorsese had allowed himself to be inspired by the novel, and to set a similar story in that same world - or, perhaps, allowed himself to take a few liberties with Wharton's text, instead of adhering to it so unimaginatively. He did neither, and the result is one of the coldest adaptations I've ever had the displeasure of watching.
Very briefly: Read the book. You'll enjoy it. Skip this.
How much better it might have been if Scorsese had allowed himself to be inspired by the novel, and to set a similar story in that same world - or, perhaps, allowed himself to take a few liberties with Wharton's text, instead of adhering to it so unimaginatively. He did neither, and the result is one of the coldest adaptations I've ever had the displeasure of watching.
Very briefly: Read the book. You'll enjoy it. Skip this.