An Ironic Overlay: The Use of Voice-Over Narration in The Age of Innocence, by Martin Scorsese

Abstract

Often praised for its cinematic artistry and faithfulness to the homonymous novel (Edith Wharton, 1920), The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993) is sometimes seen, however, as a reminder of the perils of voice-over narration in fiction films (Herman). By examining its use in relation to notions of novel adaptation (Whelehan; Leitch) and approaching irony in the film as a rhetorical device (Booth; Hutcheon; MacDowell), this article counterpoints the opinion (Travers; Cahir) that the voice-over narration might have decreased the dramatic potency of Scorsese’s work. In doing so, two main hypotheses emerged: (1) displaying a voice that purposefully invokes the novel’s author might have enhanced the degree of association between adaptation and source material, and (2) in deepening the viewers’ understanding of certain scenes by revealing inside information, the voice-over adds an ironic overlay to the film.