Washington Square is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Ben Chaplin, Maggie Smith and Judith Ivey. The screenplay by Carol Doyle is based on Henry James' novel of the same name, which was filmed as The Heiress in 1949. The film was a critical success, but a commercial failure.

Plot

Dr. Austin Sloper is a doctor and resident of a large house on New York's Washington Square. His wife dies in childbirth, leaving a daughter, Catherine, to be raised by her father. As a child, Catherine is overweight, clumsy, and untalented; however, she is also a sweet, affectionate child. She adores her father and tries hard to please him, but he considers her a disappointment and treats her with ironic condescension. His thoughts are still much occupied with his beloved wife and with a promising son who died before Catherine was born, and he privately but bitterly resents his only surviving child for causing his wife's death.