sometimes i find 19th century british costume dramas a little hard to relate to . it's not the time or the distance , it's the rules and conventions of a social class that deserves resentment rather than sympathy . <POS> yet somehow , the movies are all well made and i always get caught up in the story </POS> . the wings of the dove fits the pattern . kate ( helena bonham carter ) and merton ( linus roache ) are in love . merton , a newspaper writer , would like to marry kate . but kate's " job " , if you will , is to be a member of the british upper class . her father lost all of her family's money , but a wealthy aunt agreed to take care of her until she married a nice rich man . naturally , a newspaper writer's wages don't count as " rich . " kate leads him on , but she always ends up giving him the cold shoulder , ultimately because he's not marriageable . kate's american friend millie ( alison elliot ) stops in for a visit on her way to venice . at a party , millie catches a glimpse of merton and likes what she sees . kate realizes that if merton were introduced to millie , he might forget about her . it appears that she is trying to spare him from the heartbreak of their inevitable breakup . merton sees what kate is doing and resents her for it . he is still in love with kate , and will accept no substitute . the three of them , along with a fourth friend ( elizabeth mcgovern ) end up on holiday in venice together , where their interactions are quite complicated . let's sum up : millie has fallen for merton . merton has no feelings for millie because he is still in love with kate . kate loves him but can't marry him , so on the one hand she's trying to match him up with someone who will make him happy , but on the other hand she's jealous of them as a couple . a clear solution presents itself to kate when she realizes that millie is very sick - dying , in fact . at this point she decides that merton should marry millie until she dies . millie will leave her money to merton , who will then be rich enough to marry kate . she lets merton know of her schemes and , since it will help him win kate , he reluctantly agrees . kate leaves venice so that the two m's can be alone together . merton finds that pretending to love millie is a lot like actually loving her . he's not sure he can separate the two . kate finds that she's not so sure she really wants her merton falling in love with and marrying anyone else . the brilliant scheme proves to be painful to all involved . without revealing the details , suffice it to say that the situation ends badly . the title refers to the object of merton's vain hope that something might lift him from his predicament . one is left with feelings of regret and despair . what started as such a promising relationship was damaged by greed , anger , and jealousy . an interesting thought struck me after the movie was over , and that is that the wings of the dove almost fits the story line of a film noir . a couple conspires to cheat someone out of their money so they can live happily ever after . their involvement in the deception makes each less attractive to the other , and after a few things go wrong , the whole idea seems like an awful life-ruining mistake . i wouldn't call the wings of the dove a film noir , but the comparison is interesting . as i have acknowledged before , i am not a wonderful judge of acting , but <POS> i liked the performances </POS> from roache and elliot . roache <POS> successfully conveyed </POS> his character's ambivalence toward millie : near the end , he hugs her , at first staring into space , as if he's thinking about his plan with kate , then giving that up to fully embrace millie . millie's part didn't require as much range , but elliot <POS> gave her the necessary bubbly personality that made her irresistible </POS> . i will probably file away the wings of the dove in the same low-traffic corner of my mind as sense and sensibility and persuasion . their settings are far removed from my personal experience - geographically , historically , and socially . still , the movies are <POS> well made </POS> and the stories <POS> inevitably win me over </POS> .
