Martin Scorsese’s filmography is full of titles that defined American cinema – Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas – but tucked between his gangster epics and psychological dramas lies one of his most elegant achievements.

Released in 1993, The Age of Innocence is a sumptuous, emotionally intricate period drama adapted from one of the most celebrated novels in American literature, and it remains one of the director’s most overlooked masterpieces.

Based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the film transports viewers to the glittering yet suffocating world of 1870s New York high society. Wharton’s book, first serialized in 1920 and published later that year by D. Appleton & Company, earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction – the first ever awarded to a woman.

Set during the city’s Gilded Age, the novel dissects the rigid social codes and quiet hypocrisies of the upper classes, using a doomed love story to expose how appearances can dictate entire lives.

Scorsese, working from a screenplay co-written with Jay Cocks, approached the material with a reverence for its source. The result is a world built through immaculate production design, exacting performances and a director’s distinctive cinematic style.

Rotten Tomatoes critics rate it at 87%, with one reviewer calling it “one of Scorsese’s neglected masterpieces” in which “physical violence is traded for a more sinister kind of emotional control.” They add that “everyone here is doing career best work and the editing is absolutely perfect.”

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Newland Archer, a respected young lawyer engaged to May Welland (Winona Ryder), the embodiment of innocence and tradition. His carefully ordered life is thrown into chaos with the return of May’s cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), whose scandalous separation from her European husband makes her both an object of fascination and suspicion in New York’s elite circles. Archer finds himself torn between his duty to May and his passion for Ellen, navigating a society where personal desires are crushed beneath layers of etiquette, gossip and expectation.

One reviewer described it as “a sumptuous film” where “the real star is the set,” praising its “candelabra of such beauty and Daniel Day Lewis on screen at the same time.” 

The emotional core of the film lies in its restraint. As one viewer put it, “This is a breathtaking story of repressed feelings and unconsumated love. Martin Scorsese created a truly rare cinematic gem with this motion picture. The intro to the film is visually stunning. The entire film is quite the visual achievement. It is equal parts style and substance. It is a unique story in that there are no villains. The most seemingly innocent character might have been the most conniving. The camera work is magnificent.”

The Academy took notice of the film’s achievements. It won the Oscar for Best Costume Design and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Ryder), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Art Direction. Winona Ryder went on to win a Golden Globe and BAFTA for her performance, while Miriam Margolyes also picked up a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress.

Pfeiffer received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, and Scorsese himself earned a National Board of Review Award for Best Director, as well as a Directors Guild nomination. Elmer Bernstein’s evocative score earned a Grammy nomination. Despite this critical acclaim, the film never entered the cultural canon in the same way as Scorsese’s crime dramas.

The Age of Innocence is available to rent or buy on Apple TV.