Edward Guthmann of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote ""The Wings of the Dove" was a minor literary work that manages on screen to upstage both "Washington Square" and "The Portrait of a Lady", two superior Henry James novels that came across as stiff and deliberate in recent film translations. This is a breakthrough for Softley, whose earlier films "Backbeat" and "Hackers" only hinted at the style and complexity he displays here, and a wonderful showcase for Roache, Elliott and Bonham Carter, who gives her best performance yet."