Olivia de Havilland won the Best Actress Oscar in 1949 for *The Heiress.* It's a movie I dearly love, I've seen it 10 or 15 times. It gets better every time I see it. It's based on the Henry James novella *Washington Square* and as much as I love James, I have to say that Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz, who adapted the novella for the stage and then the screen, greatly improved on it. James's ending has the title character, Catherine Sloper, sort of wistfully looking out the window, sadder but wiser. The Goetzes give it a WANG POW dramatic ending, Catherine as Diva Triumpantis.
Diva: Catherine Sloper, the ending in the movie
Mensch: Catherine Sloper, the ending in the book
I can't urge you strongly enough to see this movie if you haven't seen it. You will not be disappointed.
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