the deliberate slowness of the camera a it move throughout scene while the way character react to one another with little more than glance and smile and polite gesture who imply much more than what they say while the theme of a rigid society and the woman who unknowingly disrupt it with her scandalous conduct while the story of a repress love affair represent this be not the stuff that make martin scorcese film a he more know a a filmmaker of aggressive and extremely violent film depict mainly italian american in a gritty new york city . however and while the story be upper crust wasp and the visual imprint be his and and the violence be completely internal and emotional and equally if not more devastating . contemplative and but no less involve and be the core of this movie visual attitude . with so much subtext just simmer underneath the event tell in the age of innocence and any other approach would have reduce the impact that it denouement reveals . scorcese use a tremendous amount of visual trick to emphasize what or whom we should look at represent spotlight pfeiffer and day lewis a they enjoy a quiet conversation during the intermission in a play while overlap series of fleeting image from snippet of correspondence between character while slow the action down for about five second in a key scene ( when pfeiffer get up from her seat and cross a room full of guest to go talk to day lewis a woodward narrate it be not the custom for a lady to get up . and talk to another man . ) . his technique force u to really watch the story and to look for detail and overt and covert and since like the opening montage of rose in bloom at the beginning of the credit and this be a movie of deep contemplation not because of the lush image and but because of the subtle game of tradition which be be play behind the curtain and just out of the camera view . nothing be what it seem and and in the exceptional case of winona ryder incredibly sly portrayal of may welland and that become true represent she know much more than her character reveals and and when she do so and it only with a loving glance . she be aware of her husband attraction to ellen olenska and and even casually feed him into it and only to chain him to her at the end when all be reveal and nothing can be do . and this be what make the movie so ultimately tragic and emotionally jarring represent that true love be consciously allow to be crush in lieu of family tradition and which be the overwhelming hypocrisy of the people inhabit edith wharton timeless novel .