A Room with a View (film)

A Room with a View
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Ivory
Produced by	Ismail Merchant
Screenplay by	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Based on	A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
Starring	Maggie Smith Helena Bonham Carter Denholm Elliott Julian Sands Daniel Day-Lewis Judi Dench
Music by	Richard Robbins (score) Giacomo Puccini (sung by Kiri Te Kanawa)
Cinematography	Tony Pierce-Roberts
Editing by	Humphrey Dixon
Studio	Merchant Ivory Productions
Distributed by	Curzon (UK) Cinecom (US)
Release date(s)	1985 (1985)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Box office	$20,966,644

A Room with a View is a 1985 British drama film directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. The film is a close adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel of the same name, and even uses his chapter titles to divide the film into sections.

The film stars Helena Bonham Carter as a young woman in the restrictive Edwardian culture of turn-of-the-twentieth-century England and her love for a free-spirited young man. Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Rupert Graves round out the principal cast. Elliott and Smith were nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest from Hannah and Her Sisters.

Plot

Miss Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) from an English hamlet in Surrey is on holiday in Italy with her much older cousin and chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith). Charlotte is conventionally English, with an extremely restrictive personality and tends to get her way by expressing her emotions to manipulate others. Lucy has been brought up in an upper class but loving and easygoing household, and had fewer inhibitions, which creates a strong tension between Charlotte and herself. They are in contrast with the more free-thinking and free-spirited backdrop of Italy. At a small pensione Lucy meets such people as Reverend Beebe, the two Miss Alans, and the author Miss Eleanor Lavish, as well as the aging Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott) and his handsome, philosophical son, George (Julian Sands), who becomes friends with Charlotte. 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. The men seem unaware of finer upper class Victorian manners, and offer Lucy and Charlotte a room with a view where the gentlemen have already slept, and Charlotte fusses until she must give in or appear overbearingly rude. As Lucy begins her journey to maturity, she finds herself drawn to George due to his mysterious thinking and readily expressed emotions.

A number of people residing at the pensione take a carriage ride in the country. A mischievous Italian driver gets back at Charlotte by misdirecting an unchaperoned Lucy to George in a barley field as he admires the view. George suddenly embraces and passionately kisses Lucy as she approaches him. Charlotte has followed Lucy, witnesses the act, and quickly stops the intimacy. George's unreserved passion shocks Lucy, but also lights a secret desire and romance in her heart. Charlotte suggests George kissing her was the act of a rake. Charlotte makes reference to a heartbreak from her youth that occurred the same way and has behaved accordingly with disgust and anger toward George. Charlotte uses guilt to coerce Lucy to secrecy to save both their reputations as a young lady and a chaperone, but it is mostly for her own benefit. Normally, if a young man kissed a young lady, an engagement should be announced to preserve her reputation, but Charlotte considers George to be an undesirable influence. Upon returning to England, Lucy tells her mother nothing due to Charlotte's influence, and pretends to forget the incident. She accepts a marriage proposal from an uptight, but respectable and wealthy man named Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). However, she soon learns that both George and his father have moved to her small village and will be her neighbors due to a letter from Cecil Vyse inviting them to reside in an empty cottage.

The appearance of George soon disrupts Lucy's plans and causes her suppressed feelings to resurface, complicated by the supposed need for secrecy. Lucy consistently refuses George's attempts to woo her because of Charlotte's admonitions. A confused Lucy breaks her engagement to Cecil due to George's influence, and plans to travel with the two Miss Alans, this time to escape the nearness of George. George has also decided that he must move for peace of mind and makes arrangements. Lucy stops by Reverend Beebe's and is confronted by George's father before they are to leave town. Lucy runs down the road and catches up with her mother's carriage and reveals the truth about her feelings. At the end, we see George and Lucy honeymooning in the Italian pensione where they met, in the room with the view.

Cast

In Florence

• Maggie Smith – Charlotte Bartlett
• Helena Bonham-Carter – Lucy Honeychurch
• Denholm Elliott – Mr. Emerson
• Julian Sands – George Emerson
• Simon Callow – The Reverend Mr. Beebe
• Patrick Godfrey – The Reverend Mr. Eager, Chaplain of the Anglican Church in Florence
• Judi Dench – Eleanor Lavish, a novelist
• Fabia Drake – Miss Catharine Alan
• Joan Henley – Miss Teresa Alan
• Amanda Walker – The Cockney Signora

In England

• Daniel Day-Lewis – Cecil Vyse
• Maria Britneva – Mrs Vyse, Cecil's mother
• Rosemary Leach – Mrs Honeychurch, Lucy's mother
• Rupert Graves – Freddy Honeychurch, Lucy's brother
• Peter Cellier – Sir Harry Otway, a landlord
• Mia Fothergill – Minnie Beebe

Other cast

• Kitty Aldridge – New Lucy
• Brigid Erin Bates – Maid at Windy Corner
• Isabella Celani – Persephone
• Luigi Di Fiore – Murdered Youth
• Matyelok Gibbs – New Charlotte
• Mirio Guidelli – Santa Croce Guide
• Freddy Korner – Mr. Floyd
• Patty Lawrence – Mrs. Butterworth
• Elizabeth Marangoni – Miss Pole
• Peter Munt – Coachman
• Lucca Rossi – Phaeton
• Stefano Serboli – Fighting Youth
• Phillida Sewell – Lady at Sir Harry's Garden Party
• Margaret Ward – Lady at Sir Harry's Garden Party

Cameos

• Richard Robbins – Party Guest
• James Wilby – Party Guest

Awards

Wins

• Academy Awards: Best Art Direction (Brian Ackland-Snow), Best Costume Design (Jenny Beavan), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala)
• BAFTAs: Best Actress (Maggie Smith), Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench), Best Costume Design (Jenny Beavan), Best Film (James Ivory), Best Production Design (Brian Ackland-Snow)
• Evening Standard British Film Awards: Best Film (James Ivory), Best Technical/Artistic Achievement (Tony Pierce-Roberts)
• Golden Globes: Best Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith)
• Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Supporting Actor (Denholm Elliott), Best Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith)
• London Critics Circle Film Awards: Best Film (James Ivory)
• National Board of Review: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis)
• New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Cinematography (Tony Pierce-Roberts), Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis)
• Writers Guild of America: Best Adapted Screenplay (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala)

Nominations

• Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (Denholm Elliott), Best Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith), Best Picture (Ismail Merchant), Best Cinematographer (Tony Pierce-Roberts), Best Director (James Ivory)
• BAFTAs: Best Supporting Actor (Simon Callow), (Denholm Elliott), Best Supporting Actress (Rosemary Leach), Best Cinematography (Tony Pierce-Roberts), Best Direction (James Ivory), Best Editing (Humphrey Dixon), Best Score (Richard Robbins), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), Best Sound
• Directors Guild of America: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (James Ivory)
• Golden Globes: Best Director (James Ivory), Best Motion Picture – Drama

Soundtrack

1. "O mio babbino caro" (from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini) – Kiri Te Kanawa with London PO, conducted by Sir John Pritchard
2. "The Pensione Bertollini"
3. "Lucy, Charlotte, and Miss Lavish See the City"
4. "In the Piazza Signoria"
5. "The Embankment"
6. "Phaeton and Persephone"
7. "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" (from La Rondine, Act One by Puccini) – Kiri Te Kanawa with London PO, conducted by Sir John Pritchard
8. "The Storm"
9. "Home, and the Betrothal"
10. "The Sacred Lake"
11. "The Allan Sisters"
12. "In the National Gallery"
13. "Windy Corner"
14. "Habanera"
15. "The Broken Engagement"
16. "Return to Florence"
17. "End Titles"

• Original music composed by Richard Robbins
• Soundtrack album produced by Simon Heyworth
• Arrangements by Frances Shaw and Barrie Gurad
• Music published by Filmtrax PLC

See also

• Baedeker, a travel guide mentioned several times in the film
• Chiddingstone Castle, used as a location for the film

External links

• Merchant Ivory Productions
• A Room with a View at the Internet Movie Database
• A Room with a View at Rotten Tomatoes