'All brilliant gloss': the liminal visual in Softley's The Wings of the Dove.

This article analyzes Ian Softley's 1997 film adaptation of Henry James's 1902 novel *The Wings of the Dove*, focusing on its portrayal of liminal sociocultural moments through the character of Aunt Maud, played by Charlotte Rampling. It highlights how James's original Maud embodies a complex, contradictory force representing market desires and social convention, central to the novel's narrative and thematic structure, while Softley's film diminishes her presence but amplifies her narrative agency by situating the story in the transitional modernity of 1910. The article discusses the challenges of adapting James's dense, ambiguous prose to film, noting that Softley's modernization and stylistic choices reflect liminality both temporally and psychologically, aligning with James's exploration of suspended consciousness and moral ambiguity. It also addresses critical responses to the film's sexualized and commercialized interpretation, situating it within Miramax's 1990s branding strategy and debates over fidelity to James's moral vision. Overall, the film is presented as a liminal work that reconfigures James's themes of displacement, alienation, and loss within a self-reflexive modern context.