Closet Picks
The Heiress

The Heiress

William Wyler, 1949

Spine #974

Picked by 2 guests

Drama / Romance / History

Criterion Letterboxd TMDB

Directed by William Wyler

Written by Augustus Goetz, Ruth Goetz

Cinematography Leo Tover

Edited by William Hornbeck

Cast Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Mona Freeman, Ray Collins, Betty Linley

Picked by

Ira Sachs
Ira Sachs director

“This is The Heiress. Amazing is all I would say. There is something about the desire of the central character, Olivia de Havilland, and its failure to be realized which is breathtaking. Again, I weirdly keep coming back to Fassbinder. This is like a Fassbinder film made by William Wyler, based on a Henry James novel.”

Sofia Coppola & Marc Jacobs

“It's Montgomery Clift as a grifter and an innocent heiress, Olivia de Havilland. I thought it's right for a modern day remake. I wonder if you'd be into it. It's the style you won't like the clothes because it's like 1860s, old-timey. But her Performance is incredible because she goes from really innocent to not in a really cool way. So that's cool just for her Performance.”