Main Cast: Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands, Daniel Day-Lewis
Release Year: 1986
Country: UK
Run Time: 117 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by E.M. Forster, A Room with a View is a shining example of Merchant-Ivory's ability to achieve maximum quality and opulence at minimum cost. Set during the Edwardian Era, the film stars Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy Honeychurch, who like all proper young British ladies is compelled to tour Europe in the company of an older chaperone -- in this instance, her spinster cousin Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith). While in Italy, the ladies make the acquaintance of a wide variety of personalities; the most fascinating of their fellow tourists -- at least in Lucy's eyes -- is free-spirited George Emerson (Julian Sands). Aware that her cousin is becoming too familiar with Emerson, Charlotte demands that Lucy return to England posthaste. Lucy complacently settles for the tiresomely traditional courtship of nerdish Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis) -- and then Mr. Emerson moves into the neighborhood. Lucy now finds herself on the horns of a dilemma: Should she opt for a safe, proper marriage to Cecil, or the bohemian unpredictability of the charismatic Emerson? A winner of three Academy Awards, A Room with a View is not what one could call fast-moving, but fans of the Merchant-Ivory team will enjoy luxuriating in the film's leisurely pace and stimulating cast of characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Though they had been making films together for over two decades, director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant didn't reach widespread popular or critical success until 1986's A Room With a View. Adapted by their frequent collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from one of E.M. Forster's lighter novels, the movie is a perfectly weighted, gorgeously staged comedy of manners. In her second film, Helena Bonham Carter made quite an impression as Lucy, and she spent much of the decade typecast in stuffy period-piece roles. Daniel Day Lewis provides spot-on work as the uptight, priggish suitor Cecil, a marked contrast to his almost polar-opposite role in Stephen Frears's My Beautiful Laundrette, which marked him as a new actor of unusual versatility. He would become a sex symbol two years later in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Room was nominated for eight Academy Awards and brought home three, including one for Jhabvala's adaptation. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Simon Callow - Mr. Beebe; Judi Dench - Miss Lavish; Rosemary Leach - Mrs. Honeychurch; Rupert Graves - Freddy Honeychurch; Patrick Godfrey - Mr. Eager; Fabia Drake - Catherine Alan; Joan Henley - Teresa Alan; Maria Britneva - Mrs. Vyse; Amanda Walker - The Cockney Signora; Peter Cellier - Sir Harry Otway; Mia Fothergill - Minnie Beebe; Patricia Lawrence - Mrs. Butterworth; Mirio Guidelli - Santa Croce Guide; Freddy Korner - Mr. Floyd; Elizabeth Marangoni - Miss Pole; Lucca Rossi - Phaeton; Isabella Celani - Persephone; Luigi di Fiore - Murdered Youth; Kitty Aldridge - The New Charlotte and Lucy; Matyelok Gibbs - New Charlotte
Credit
Elio Altramura - Art Director, Jenny Beavan - Costume Designer, John Bright - Costume Designer, James Ivory - Director, Humphrey Dixon - Editor, Richard Robbins - Composer (Music Score), Christine Beveridge - Makeup, Brian Ackland-Snow - Production Designer, Gianni Quaranta - Production Designer, Brian Savegar - Production Designer, Tony Pierce-Roberts - Cinematographer, Ismail Merchant - Producer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Screenwriter, E.M. Forster - Book Author
Miss Lucy Honeychurch is on holiday in Italy with her cousin and chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett. Both Lucy and Charlotte are conventionally English in contrast with the more free-thinking and free-spirited backdrop of Italy. It is at a small pensione in Italy that Lucy meets elderly Mr. Emerson and his handsome son, George. These men, although also English, represent the forward-thinking ideals of the turn-of-the-century, seeking to leave behind the repression and caution that was the norm in Victorian times. At first, the two Emerson men seem strange and unfamiliar to Lucy and Charlotte. However, as Lucy begins her journey to maturity, she finds herself drawn to the men, especially the handsome George.
In an unguarded moment, George embraces and passionately kisses Lucy as she approaches him to ask a question in a rural barley field. The act is seen by Charlotte and quickly stopped. George's unrestrained passion shocks Lucy, but also lights a secret desire and romance in her heart.
Upon returning to England, Lucy forgets the incident. She accepts a marriage proposal from an uptight, but respectable and wealthy man named Cecil Vyse, assuming that she will never see George again. However, she soon learns that both George and his father have moved to her small village and will be her neighbours. The appearance of George soon disrupts her plans and forces her to make a choice.
After a while, the Emerson men decide that they do not fit in with the locals. They make plans to move to a more open-minded place. Lucy has already broken her ties to Cecil, and wants to travel for a while. She yearns to separate herself from the antics of her brother, Freddy, as well as the sweet-yet-tiresome older neighbors (including Charlotte and Lucy's own mother). Just as she is about to leave Windy Corner to set out on an independent adventure, she elopes with George to Florence.
